Learning Guitar

OK, so I've been practicing a couple times a week in the office.
When I work in the lab and I'm waiting for some update, I play the Uke.

I hate diminished cords.

OK. I am trying to get back into it. Been spending time for the last couple of week on the Uke relearning "Haele" from the book"Famous solos & Duets for the Ukulele" by John King.

Now that this is sounding acceptable, starting to play one of my lessons from Guitar as well.

I've mentioned that I would scan my lessons and show them here. Here is a 12bar that I've been struggling with for 3 months. I can play it really slow and do OK. I can play individual phrases. But I still can't play it together.

This one really does have a significant requriement for really good left and right hand coordination. Not just picking a single string, not strumming all 6 strings.

If you like this, you can call Gelb in Redwood City an get lessons with Tony Baker. Excellent teacher.

Here is a recording of tony playing this.

Sometimes, I'm just on a roll to unload.

Because of the bad luthier experience, I decided I now have a new hobby. Some hobby, screw up and a $500 or better investment is ruined.

I have read a couple of excellent books I would like to recommend. Even if you are not going to do this yourself, it will help you have a better understanding of how to look at a guitar.

One is "The Luthier's Handbook", ISBN 0-634-01468-4. This book covers not how to make a guitar, but how to build a guitars that sound great. Reading this book will help you understand why guitars cost what they cost.

The other is "The Ukulele", ISBN 0-9728795-0-1. This is a pictorial on how to build a ukulele. I don't agree with every detail, but you can appreaciate how much work goes into building and accoustic instrument.

Also, browse the Stewart MacDonald site, http://www.stewmac.com In the tool section, they have articles on how to use the different tools. It gives you a good feel on how things are done.

More info from the Seattle trip. Me and Andrew checked out this guitar store called Emarald City Guitars, http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com

This was a cool store. Had three tenor guitars, and more old(40+ yo) archtops than I've seen anywhere else. Friendly staff. This guitar in particular blew me away, http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com/72_sg_custom.htm. A 72 SG with 3 humbuckers and a bigsby tailpeice.

If in your in Pioneer Square, go see these guys.

Buying a used guitar can be fustrating. I traded in my Ibanez PF-100 and my Fernadez nomad about a mnth ago. I went back to Thinman Music in Alameda. He gave me an a damn good tade in for the 2 guitars.

After spending 2-3 hours looking at guitars, I settled on 2 guilds. one a 1998 X150 jazz guitar and another, a green 1968 semi-hollow starfire. I have always loved the look of a maple Jazz Guitar.

So I told larry that if he could put a set of 10's on the x150, I'd buy that, otherwise I'd buy the starfire. I joked and said it was in his best interest to say he could not move from 12's to 10's on the x150. The spitfire was $500 more.

Well he did and I bought the X150. Took the x150 to be properly setup. Did not like the results. Will not use this Redwood City, CA luthier again. I'd swear I did not have a buzz coming form the bridge, or that the bridge had grooves as deep as the nut. Also, the action was so low I had fret buzz. I told him that I had a heavy attack.

So, I just lucked out. I bought a new bridge and a tool from Stewart-MacDonald(stewmac.com) that helps to fit a new bridge to the curve of the body. The luck is that I was able to just swap out the top of the bridge. The thumb screws were the same.

Now the guitar sound great. The intonation is great. The string angle of the bridge is a perfect 15 degrees. Granted my current tuner is just a Seiko ST757, but it has my intonation at the 12th fret no worse than 12 cents off the true note on all 6 strings.

OK, stage fright! Not a god thing. I've have had stage firght since I was a kid. In the school plays I would mess up lines or say them staring at the ceiling.

My Bar Mitzva was terrifying.

As I got older, I became more confident. I could do presentations for work with no issue. I once did 5 talks at one conference. No issues.

This past Tuesday, holy shit, issues. I visited my buddy Andrew and his fiancee Paige in the Seattle area. I bought my Ukulele. I was looking forward to going to open mike night at the local pub. To hear Andew play his guitar.

I really did not think of getting on stage myself. Tuesday night and I brought the Uke. I figured if I got drunk enough and the crowd was small enough, I might give it a try.

The crowd was small enough. Just about everyone was either a performer, or a friend of one. Overall a receptive crowd.

I wasn't drunk. A couple of beers does not loose a man's inhibitions.

I got up on stage and made three attempts to play song I had been playing for 3 months. I had been playing it well enought to play for friends and them enjoy it for over a month.

Played 2 notes, mistake..............

Try again. Played 3-4 notes, mistake..............

One more time. Few more notes, appologize and leave the stage.
No one boo'd me. Heidi who is a patron, and a great singer and guitar player runs it. Offered to buy me a tquilla to get the nerve to try again. Did not take her up on her offer.

The bartneder played a bit, then Andrew and Heidi, then the bartender again.

Got home at 10:30PM, played damn well for 30 minutes before going to bed a bit fustrated. There is always next year.

Due to life issues I thought I would have to quit guitar and ukulele lessons. But things changed fast.
I thought about it. I have been taking lessons for a year. I have learned a lot but have been disappointed in one aspect of all this. I have perfected nothing. I have gained knowledge. Learned technique. But I still say I practice Guitar and Ukulele. I don't play.

The reason I say I practice is because I have not spent the time required to learn even one peice well enough to play for people. I haven't tried to perfect one musical peice.

So since the issue that cause me to condider dropping lessons disappeared, I thought about using this as a reason to take a break anyway.

I have a transcription of a recording of "Begin the Beduline" by Cole Porter. It was recorded by David Kamakahi on his CD Pa'ani. You can buy the CD at http://www.denniskamakahiproductions.com/

I have spend hours playing against the CD. I am finally not making major mistakes. When not feeling the presure of playing with the CD, I can play perfectly. Although on a solo, I do cut the counts. Otherwise there would be too much silence.

Now I will make the same attempt with the Guitar. Pick one of the Solo's and practice for the hours and hours required to acheive as close to a perfect performance as I can.

Now on to the discuission of Money. Yep the stupid compulsive engineer with too much money owning more instruments than he can play.

My guitar inventory is now:
- The Larrivee OMV-03. Love this guitar. wonderfull sound.
- The Larrivee Rosewood Parlor guitar. Big sound for a small body.
- Gibson SG Faded Cherry
- Fender American Highway Texas Tele
- Guild X150

The Ibanez PF100 is a guitar that I decided was A project I did not want. The neck is twisted from what ever it went though during its 26+ year life. Plus the bridge and tailpeice screws were stripped. Also the Fernandez nomad was a mistake. I like to fool with the one Derrek owns. But owning one and trying to play it steadily was a disapointment. Bad action, lousy electronics and a general bad feel. I took both back to Thinman music in Alameda. Paid $600 for the 2 guitars. I was given a $500 trade in for them. I fell in love with 2 guitars. A 1998 Guild X150 and a 1968 Guild starfire IV. Well the truth is that the Starefire was $500 more than the X150. But the X150 is a true blond. Natural finish and all curly maple. So I now own a jazz guitar that come from the factory with 10-46 strings. So playing blues is more than doable.

I bought the Tele with the tax refund this year. Tony at Gelb, my guitar teacher, primarily plays a Tele duing the lessons. I really liked the sound. So I spend a few hours over a cuople of days at Gelb playing Telecasters. The '72 reissue, a Standard american hwy 1, '72 thinline reissue and the Texas. The bridge pickup on the Texas tele is HOTTT. I only play this guitar on the bridge pickup.

When I bought the larrivee, I was playing rosewood guitars at the same time. Could not afford the Rosewood guitar I wanted. So when Derek told me that Guitar Solo was running a deal on Larrivee parlor guitars, I went to take a look. Larrivee has moved from the Satin finish with very simple design to Laquer finish with Mother of Perl details. Jumped the price by $400. So I made a offer and they accepted. The only draw back of the parlor is that the body is at the 12th fret. You really have access to only frets 1 through 11. But the sound is great. The guitar was $610. Great price considering the quality. The parlor bguitar is smaller overall and in a way seem more comforatable to play than my other guitars.

Now for the Ukulele list:
- Kamaka Tenor
- Kamaka OhtaSan Concert
- Fluke Concert (with rosewood fretboard, not plastic)
- Harmony 1950's soprano
- 190x Banjo Uke

I bought the OhtaSan Concert becuase I wanted a Uke weith a low G. Only a few Ohtasan's are made. Good collector item. The flame koa is special. This Uke sounds wonderful and is really pretty to look at.

I bought the Fluke concert because I like the smaller scale when I have to move faster. Plus I don't want to keep swaping the 4th string.

The harmony was a fluke. $49 with shipping off ebay for one in mint condition.

I sold my Fluke Tenor and Flea. Didn't really need them.

Like I said, dumb, compulsive person with too much money.

This all said, by March, I'll start lessons again. I hope to have a couple of peices each for both Guitar and Uke that I feel I can play to a crowd of people.

I'll fill you in later.

I know I have not writtne in months.

I'll try to start writting, add some images of my guitars and post the lessons.

Holy Shit, I did it. I bought the amp and the guitar. A Gibeson SG Special Faded Cherry and a Marshall MG 50DFX. I traded in the other amp, Martin Backpacker and the cheapo SG.

I played with three SGs. The Faded SG ($529), a SG Standard Cherry ($1079) and a SG Sepcial laquer Black($739). The Standard had a great translucent finish and trapazoid pearl inllay on the fretboard. The black as a gloss black. I did not like the black finish. It looked cheesy. The stanrdard looked hot and sounded great. I went to buy it, but thye could not get the action as low as the faded.

The faded SG has as low an action as can be had. I don't know if this is an accident or by design. But this is one hell of a guitar.

I spent about 2.5 hours between Friday and Saturday before I made the purchase.

Once I got the amp home, I was surprised that Keith did not know the amp better. He did not know that it came with a foot spitch to change channels and turn the effect on and off. It has a CD in for playalong, the ability to feed into another processor, and be feed by another processor. This is a great amp for the money ($349).

I spent a couple of hours playing until I had to go to a friends house for dinner.

After this, my current belief is that if you want to learn and are not sure you'll stick with it, borrow or rent a cheap electric and amp, or accoustic. Once you are sure you'll stick with it, spend the bucks. Nothing like learning to use the full fretboard and having 1/4 inch space making the guitar fell realy awkward to use in the higher frets. Having a good guitar with low action only helps.

I will be redoing the blog and including the sheet music from Tony. He said there is no problem. I'll scan and publish as is, or will rewrite where needed.

Spent a couple of hours at Gelb again. Looked at amps.

I looked at the line 6 Spider($349), a couple of fender tube amp($400 & $549), a couple of Fender transistor amps($329 & $399) and a Marshall($349).

I'm decided not to get a tube amp. I don't like parts that break.

I am tied between a Marshall and a fender transistor.

The spider had a lot of effects I did not find useful.

Part of me thinks that the tube/transistor debate is more a matter of traditions and preference. Tube amps even to day are the A class for your stereo. The classic guitar sounds people try to duplicate are tube amps. The Pandora's box emulates as well as some transistor amps have mode to specifically emulate some well know tube amps.

I think I'm going with the Marshall. A few more adjustments than the Fender, it has a headphone out and a couple more effects.
I'll decide tomorrow when I try them again.

I was also playing the SG faded again. $529 and it is a great guitar. I find that both my SG and Ibanez have OK action through midneck and action that is way too high on the lower neck. On the SG, it is a bit more than a 1/4 inch.

I don't know. I could very well be dropping $1000. I'll take the SG in and see if they can lower the action. If so, I'll buy the amp and wait.

The Ukulele is a story in it's own.

I bought a Kamaka Tenor just before Thanksgiving. This really is a fine instrument.

Just before Thanksgiving I brought over some vintage Uke music book I bought on ebay. Had fun. We spend time going though
Singing In the Rain. The interesting thing is that until the mid 1950's, Ukes were tuned A-D-F#-B. So the chords were all different.
With the Modern tuning, G-C-E-A, all the songs are a whole step off. On the Uke, the Bb cord is a hard chord for me. With the old
tuning, that is the fingering for the C.

I played with transposing the chords. I found a couple of sites that are great chord dictionaries. Especially when some of the vintage
music has finger diagrams, but does not identify the chord name.

Here are the references:
http://chordfind.com/4-string/
Very cool. Can enter the tab positons and it tell you the chord name. Plus it takes lets you specify alternate tunings.
http://guitar.to/folder/ukulele.html
OK. Not too crazy about this one.
http://www.sheep-entertainment.nl/ukulele/index.html
Very good. It is flash, and you can download a copy of it.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/f/p/fpm108/glw/lessons/lesson40a.htm
An online chard for transposing chords between keys.

I have Singing in the Rain is the key of C now.

I'm getting it, but that dreaded B diminished cord. On the Uke and guitar this cord is fingered about the same. Difficult no matter what you do.
Transitioning from C to Bdim is not easy. I keep practicing.

Another chord progression that is hard, C7-Bb-Bb min, key of F. After practicing the Bb and almost getting it, to transition from Bb to Bb minor requires an alternate fingering. Bb is 1-1-2-3, frets on strings 1..4. Bb minor is 1-1-1-3. So I was just covering the 1st fret in strings 1 & 2 with my first finger. Bb minor is just lifting the 2nd finger from the 2nd fret on the third string when transitioning from Bb. So now I am trying to Barr the entire first fret with my first finger. Not easy. Even on a Uke. Barr chords are difficult. My index finger is just shaped wrong I guess.

I'm just not giving up! To F..K'n stubborn I guess.

I brought the Kamaka and the Banjo Uke to Hiram. He got a kick out of the Banjo Uke. Man he made the banjo uke sing. We went over singing in the rain. He showed me a few strums I need to work on.

On the Uke, the strums seem to be done at a fast tempo. You normally use the nail and pad on the index finger. It is sore.

As I keep thinking, This and the guitar will take a year to become dangerous.

I am cutting my Uke lessons to twice a month. I eally need to concentrate on the guitar more.

Gee I guess it's been a couple of weeks. I think I'll talk to Tony about publishing some of the excercises he has written out for me.

Re-reading the blog, I have to do some serious spelling and grammar editing.

I am starting to feel like I'm getting it. I'm playing the chord progression D minor, G7, Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Bdim, E7, A minor and A7. The transition from Fmaj7 to Bdim was made easier when Tony showed me I was fingering Fmaj7 wrong.

I'm now playing this chord progression with a melody line. So instead of just playing the cords, I play a chord then a couple of notes. So each cord is still one measure in 3/4 time. But playing the chord then a couple of notes sounds much nicer.

Impresses my friends a bit more. Hell, it impresses the hell out of me that I can do this.

Holding the chords for so long is painful. I can play the pregression twice in a row, then my hand starts to hurt. Still can't decide of it is basic weakness, or I'm litterally holding on to hard.

Scales are going well. I now understand how to transition from the diagonal to the vertical position. So I'll play diagonally, and stop and play the vertical, then continue up or down the neck. Very cool. Again, this will take a very long time to get it smooth and fast.

I have decided that as I get better, I'll problably get an SG special or an SG Supreme. There is world of difference in these guitars. $900 difference in price is a big issue. The supreme has what is supposed to be a thinner "faster" neck.

Gelb has a cherry fade finish SG Special. Having a satin instead of the laquer finish is really cool. I like the look. I do not think I can honestly say I can take advantage of this guitar yet. What killed me was that after using a really nice amp, I really hated the sound from my practice amp. I'll be getting a better amp before I get a better guitar.

I've been working on this new chord progression for the last 2 weeks. D minor, G7, Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Bdim, E7, A minor and A7.

The transition to an from Bdim has sort of stopped me in my tracks. Progress has been slow.

Sometimes I think that Tony is playing stump the student.

The scales are going well. I'm playing over the octaves up and down the full neck easily. Not fast, but smoothly.

Went home to visit my family over Thanksgiving. The banjo Uke is cool, but I haven't figured out the sound yet. All that practicing, and playing Yesterday was a partial waste. It just sounded wrong on the banjo uke.

I'm going to start playing some of the old songs from the music I bought on eBay. Most were written for the Ukulele.

Well, I did it. I bought a Kamaka Tenor Ukulele at Guitar Solo. Beautiful intrument in both looks and sound.

OK be gentle. I've recorded me playing yesterday by the beetles on the Uke.

This sounds like your 6yo niece or nephew at a recital.

'Yesterday' On the Ukulele

Tony wrote out my first diagonal, or multi-octave scale. We'll see how I do.

I'm still a bit bummed about playing the Uke so poorly for my friends. Sunday after spending about 8 hours learning Yesterday, I went to play it for my friends. Could not play for the life of me. My stage freight has come back.

As a kid I was really shy. One school play, I actually looked at the ceiling when I was on stage saying my part.

Hiram worked with me to do an arrangement for Yesterday. This way when I get the Banjo Uke from my parents I can play a nice song with a good sound. Not the normal hokey Uke song.

It is really cool to have an accomplished musician as a teacher. He wrote an arrangement in an hour for me.

I was getting fustrated at not consistently being able to play the D/cadd5/G chords. But when I talked to the guy at work, I played it well.

At the lesson last night Tony told me I was concentrating on the wrong aspect. He wants me to get my strumming technique right.

More than getting the chording correct. If I make a mistake do my best to correct what I was doing an keep playing.

It was hard to keep playing and not stop even though I was not forming the chords correctly. If playing with other people or in public, you don't stop everything and start from the beginning.

Also, the upstroke when strumming does not always require you to sound all the strings. Many times, just the first few.

To get the strumming point across, I have an exercise where 1 beat is skipped, so I do a ghost strum. The ghost strum is to keep rhythm. So my right hand keeps moving whether I make a sound on that beat or not.

Tuesday's lesson was OK. Assigned more chord work. I feel like I'm making some progress. Still slow. I guess taking Uke lessons and Guitar lessons at the same time is not smart.

Tonight's Uke lesson was good. We spent time going though songs I know. Learned a couple of strum methods and how to finger pick, or Aggripellico. Instead of a strum pluck the strings 3-2-4-1-4-2 as fast as the time to strum a cord using the thumb and index finger. I guess that will take a couple of weeks to do it consistantly and fast enough to play a song using this technique.

I traded my concert for a Tenor. Larger frets. The issue is that the strings are really that much tighter. It almost feels too tight. I don't know. I'll have hiram take a look on Thursday.

But it is nice having the larger frets. It will be hard playing the banjo Uke. It is soprano sized. Tiny little frets.

OK, I'm getting fustrated. Assigned my first attainable chord progression and I'm getting nowhere.

D Cadd5 G

Should be sounding better after a week.

I took my first Ukulele lesson. Very different from Tony. An hour really gives you and your teacher time to torture each other. Hiram took the time to show me the basics. The C scale and saw that I could play some basic chords.


We then spend the rest of the hour learning a song.

We did something I had never done before. He had me keeping proper time and him accompanying me. That was really hard. It was a Hawaiian song, so I had no idea what he was singing or how to pronounce the words in the song.

That made it hard because there were just hash marks above the words. Since I did not know what he was singing, I had to count hash marks when strumming the cords. I had no reference to change cords when I heard a specific sound.

I'm going to have him work with me on some songs I know. It might make things easier.


This did make me wonder if the 30 minute lesson for guitar are such a good idea. I might switch to someone who can offer me one hour lessons next month.

Ukulele..........

My dad is giving me my Great Uncles Banjo Ukulele. I picked up a cheap concert one this weekend and started to learn chords. I'll take my first lesson Thursday night.

Playing the Uke is simpler than a guitar in some ways. The strings are softer, so there is less pressure required to play the chords. Although Barr chords are still a pain in the ass. Doing 4 finger chords is harder. Fat fingers, little frets.

The D chord is 2nd fret, strings 234 with three fingers. Three fingers and a very small fret.

Also holding the uke is a bit awkward. We'll see, I feel more comfortable doing chords on the Uke than the guitar at this point.

Caught up..........

Now you have it.

I own three guitars, have been taking lessons since the September 9, 2003, been trying to practice on my own since July 19.

My first lesson with Tony, I showed him the books I was using. He then had me play scales and wrote out the blues scale for me. Tony is very good, but it would be better if Gelb had the lessons staggered a bit. They do back to back 30 minute lessons.

The next lesson he had me working on scales a bit more. When playing scales accending and decending back to back you don't play the last/first note twice. Also he had me working on up and down strokes on each string. I was only doing down strokes. He played scales like a machine gun showing me the efficiency of playing with up and donw strokes.

There are two philosophies of stroking guitar strings. One says you start each string on a down stroke. The other says you just play up and down even if changing strings. It is all what you are comfortable with. The important issue is to be consistent. You either play up and down or start each string on a down. But each time you play a peice of music, the same not is always played with an up or a down stroke.

The last minutes of the second lesson he played a 12 bar blues and wrote part of it out. Unfortunately since it was the end of the lesson, I did not understand what he presented to me. Very confusing.

I would up having Derrak at work give me a hand. Derrek is a professional musician. Ecellend guitar player. He also taught guitar for over 10 years. He gave me some clues as to how to play the 12 bar. Which i really did not understand it was a full 12 bar until the third lesson.

Derrek showed me how to play barr cords. Don't squeeze the neck, it just should not take so much pressure as to hurt your hand trying. He also has a very strong belief in ear training. He had me close my eye's when I played. After all, you should not need to alway look at yourself playing the guitar. You should hear if you are playing right.


The weekend because of computer problems, I had a lot of time waiting for OS loads and latch loads. Love microsoft windows, NOT! I memorized all five positons for the F# and A blues scale. I was even overplaying F# second position and A first positon correctly. Even started F# thrid with A second.

On my third lesson, I showed Tony how well I played the scales. It was a good thing. I then had him spend the rest of the lesson on the 12 bar from the week before. He explained that he did not miss much, the complete 12 bar was there minus the turn around.

Now, keep in mind that I still dod not have the PXR4 to record the lesson. On the way hom I listened to the radio. Then when I got home, I could not remember the rythen of the 12 bar. I spent an hour searching the internet for something that sound similar. I found it.

This week was very fustrating. I was thinking if I don't get this, there are going to be some really sweet deal on guitars on ebay soon.

Now I have spent the week trying to get the 12 bar played correctly. Does not sound good, but better than a week ago.

Tonight I had my fourth lesson. Because of the 12 bar, I did not practice overplaying the 2 scales. But Tony like the progress I made on the 12 bar. But not good enough, He gave me a small riff that has bends, slides and pull offs. He also wants me to practive the E7 Dominant cord in three positions. First real cords, one with a five finger stretch and all 4 finger positions.

Next week, my plan to to just keep practicing what I learned though now. I can see no new material for a week or two.

Recording my Lessons.........

Tony said it would be a great idea to record his lessons to listen to later. Here he comes again, super geek! I wanted to record the lesson and play it back on the px4 or the tascam guitar trainer. This meant something that would record in a format other than MP3.

It meant something that had a high enough quality that I could transfer it to my computer and burn a CD. High enough quality so that when the px4 or tascam slowed down the music, I could hear the notes Tony played.

After searching for something that was not an arm and a leg, and was portable, the PXR4 came into the picture. The problem was that the best price I was given in a store was $310.

I looked on ebay and have one comming for $210. It's OK, I will sell the Tascam and the PX4.

I told Tony, I'll record the lessons and give him a CD. This way he can just give his students a CD and tell them to listen to a specific track. This way when they practice later, they can listen to the music they need to practice again.

How do you listen to Your guitar........

When I bought the Ibanez, it came with an amp. The problem is that it was summar. Somtimes I played at my desk using the computer software, sometimes by the TV with the fan, sometimes in my bedroom where the A/C is.

Too much lugging stuff around. Also the wires! The head set cord, from the computer, or stereo or amp. The guitar cord. I felt tangled up.

I figured there must be decent mini amps. Look at your MP3 players and Walkmen. The items the price of a decent portable CD player were crap. I even bought one I thought was OK. NOT. The electronics started to break down fast. People a the music store I went to all told me the same thing. A Korg Pandora Box. In the end, I picked one up on ebay. $170 and worth it.

Now at work or before lessons, I can practice and not bother anyone and get great sound.

I do use the amp. I keep the volume low. I keep in my bedroom. The neighbors have not complained, and I practice as late as midnight.

Still why can't someone have a box less than 2 lbs as a reasonable amp. Look at the speakers you get for $30 for your computer.

This is a product just waiting for a good EE with speaker knowledge to create.

I will be selling the Pandora box for the recording version. The PX4 traded for a PXR4.

More notes on Travel Guitars...........

There are many choices for guitars called travel guitars. There are small scale electric and accoustics besides the Martin Backpacker.

Martin has done a great job with the basic backpacker shape. It is used as a classical guitar, steel string, electrified steel string, Mandolin and Ukelele.


Aria guitars, http://www.ariausa.com/productinfo/index.html, make a couple of models. The fretboard and body are small and compact and have a preamp run by a 9volt battery. They use aluminum frames to give the space feel of a full sized guitars.
These are much more comforable than a backapacker. Yamaha and another companies also makes this style of guitar. Some of them save size by putting the headstock on the base of the guitar and not the end of the neck.

In terms of small electrics, I like the Fernandes Nomad the best. The neck is normal size. The body has been reduced in size.
Can proably carry this one on the plane. It also has a built in 21 effect processor and amp running on a 9 volt battery. Plus an earphone jack, not just the amp jack. The older models just have the amp and amp out jack. They also have small speakers that are OK when played low.

Here is a new one, Go Guitars, http://www.go-guitars.com/

http://www.soloette.com/

http://www.travelerguitar.com/ I seen these in stores and have played them. Some models have a stethascope that connects to
the guitar for private listening. They have full 24 inch necks and a overall 28 inch length. They even try to shape these so that they rest on your leg properly.

If I see a the right price on a Nomad I'll probably get one.

I'd better really learn to play well since I own more than one guitar.

Traveling Guitars.....

Well, you like to bop around once in a while and take your hobbies with you. I have taken my computer with me. I have taken fly fishing books. On fly fishing trips, I alway took a fly tying kit. Well this early in the game, missing practice time is not a good thing.

I was not going to take the ibanez. Flight case or not, I don't trust the airlines. I wound up buying a Martin Backpacker. It is small and looks like the Eiffel tower on it's side. For the size, the sound is OK. It is akward to hold at times. Unfortunately I had to own one for a month to really figure this out. It is going on ebay really soon.

Now, what to I take with me. Again not my 26yo Ibanez. No way is the Larrivee even leaving the house until I buy a really great hard case for it.

I wanted something that for under $300, I would not cry if it got damaged. I went to some stores and looked at Cort, Jay Turser, Johnson and Squire. In the end I got an Epiphone Bully (SG style) from the Gelb repair store for $160 and a Gator ATA case for $120. Now Bully leaves the house and the other two don't.

I can play chords!

For cords, I have two really good items. One is Guitar cards, isbn 0-634-05785-5. It is a deck of cards covering 50+ open cord positions. Each card lists related cords and chords progressions.

I've have been trying to move between the D and D7 cord. Both are three finger cords on the first three strings in with 1/2 fret or 2/3 fret. The fingers are not moving fast yet. The good news is that after practicing cords for 2 months. I can play some cords clearly without having to play with finger position. Just put down the fingers, slowly, and strum, a clear sound.

I have another book I like. "Guitar Cords and Accompaniment", ISBN 1-891370-10-3. The initial cords are not related. They are more chording exercises. Eminor (strings 4&5 2nd fret) and Eminor7 (string 5, 2nd fret). Then E and E7 and so forth. It gets you used to the idea of chords with similar patterns.

The trick to chords is that your fingers just know the shape of the chord. So your fingers just go down on the stings already positioned. NO fidgeting with your finger before that first strum. This can take months.


After spending time with the pain of playing the E7 cord in the 4 formations, I took it down a notch.

The Guitar Chord card. I used them for pictures of A, E, D7 and D. All related to the A Major cord. So A -> D -> E -> D7. A to D is a bit tough, but the others are smooth.

This was a great feeling.

Visiting Guitar Stores.....

Music and Guitar stores are different from normal retail outlets. These people know what they are selling and love to play the instruments. If they think you'll eventually buy a guitar they are helpfull. How else does a mere mortal get to play a $2500 Koa wood electric guitar or test a $2000 tube amp.

I've been to Griffin in Palo Alto, Thinman Music in Alameda, Gelb in Redwood City and B Street Music in San Mateo, Guitar Solo in San Francisco and of course The Guitar Store in San Jose.

Griffin Music is a nice place that I think they wish they only sold acoustic instruments. This goes by the ratio of electric to acoustic instruments. The Electric Guitar room is great. Closted off, a full board of Dan-Electro pedals. A good selection of Amps and Guitars. Not a lot, but a good selection. Their repair costs are very expensive. I am getting my great Uncles banjo Ukelele. About 100 years old. My dad says the skin is brittle and needs to be replaced. Griffin say the price will be about $150. B Street and Thinman said about $40.

Larry the owner of Thinman Music is first and foremost a Banjo player. Have to trust his estimate on this one.

Gelb is friendly. They sort of have 3 locations on the same block. On El Camino is the main store. If you like Fenders, this is the place to buy that electric. They have a few others, epiphone, gibson and ibanez. It seems most of the electrics are Fenders. Around the corner are the repair shop and the teaching studios. Mike runs the repair shop. Good guy. I'm taking lessons next door at the Teaching studio with Tony Baker.

Thinman Music is a little shop in Alameda on Webster. A very eclectic collection of new and used guitars. If you like vintage equipment, check this place out. This is where I bought my Ibanez. Folks are friendly and reasonable.


B Street Music is another good place. A very good selection of guitars. They also have other stringed instruments, drums and electric pianos. This is where I bought my accoustic. I wanted a guitar that I could play without lugging an amp around. I thought, Hollow, Semi-hollow or Archtop. Blues guitars. Thinline hollows and semi-hollows do not play loud. You still need an amp. Archtops on the other hand do play well as an accoustic. No loud, but loud enough.

B Street had this archtop. Red, nothing identifying what is was. The tuners and pickups had been replaced. I liked the sound, even though the strings were so dead, they were sticky. Grrossss. I played the archtop, and a couple of Ibanez semi-hollows. I liked the Archtop. But I did not like the price, $550.

I talked their ear off, played it more, talked more, played more. After 2 hours they gave in and sold it to me for $400. But they did not have time to change the strings. After the issues with the Ibanez, they were doing the first change.

I came back the next week. They changed the strings and it sounded OK, but I got buzz. I was told to raise the action until the buzz went away. Well a week later I was back.

Albert spent about 2 hours on the guitar. He spent 40 minutes adjusting the truss rod. No go. He swore that changing to a stiffer string in a heavier gauge would work. So I came back 2 hours later. He changed me from slinky 10s to flat wound 11s. Still, after an hour no go. So I said that I was giving back the guitar and would choose another. They give store credit, not money back.


Gary, who seems to be one of the senior salesman worked with me for an hour. First we took another look at the other 2 archtops he had. I was not crazy about the quality. I looked at a $1200 semi hollow and the Ibanez semi-hollows. I wanted a guitar that had strong enough acoustic properties so that I could play without an amp.

I decided to look at single cutaway acoustics. Gary showed me a Japanese Yamaha. Very nice, but the sound was too folksy, not bluesy or jazzy. So I started looking. I played number of Mahogony, rosewood and Koa guitars. Love Koa, light instrument and bright sound. Mahogony ranged in sound, but on the bright side. Rosewood, that is a nice wood for acoustic blues. But the one I liked was $2000. In the end I bought a Larrivee omv-3 mahogony with a spruce top for over $1000.

Down stairs, the guy were all playing the red archtop. Great sound if you are playing with your fingers and not a pick. They all heard the buzz on the few frets. But skip those frets and this really is a sweet sounding guitar.


Guitar Solo and around the corner from where I work in San Francisco. These guys are great and patient. If you want an accoustic guitar and want a store that really just sells accoustics, go there. They also have Ukelele's, banjos and violins. They have an excellent collection of books and a very wide selecetion of acoustic guitars.

Scales and Chords....

It took a while to realize that tab notation and the fret diagrams for scales are a way of life. I lucked out in Griffin Strings in Palo Alto. They had a book called Scales for Absolute Beginners Guitar Scales, ISBN 0-7119-8772-6. Great book to start with. They mix learning scales with learning simple single note riffs and songs. I practiced this for the month. Note, learn all the positions on the fret board for a scale. If you don't do it on your own, your guitar teacher will make sure you do do.

At this time I can play the Blues scale in A and F# in all five positions.

Chords are harder. Putting 1,2,3 or 4 fingers down on the fretboard all at once so that they play clearly. Better, Barr cords. Having your first finger play across all 6 strings at once. I am just beginning to see hope of barring all six strings.

Secret of the Barr is to use the left side of your finger. Make sure your thumb is directly behind your first finger. Play with the position of where your thumb touches the neck. If you feel like your are gripping the neck so hard as your hand hurts in a minute, your trying to hard. Work on Barring 2 then 3 then 4, 5 ,6 strings. It takes strength, time, and finesse to do this right.

Right now I am learning a 12 bar blues that has me barring the 2nd, 3rd and 4th string. Not easy. Especially when I have to hammer the third string in the next fret as well.

Trying On My own......

Now, I had a guitar. How am I going to learn if I can't take lessons. As history showed, I can't learn
on my own. I'm a nerd. Software, a computer program to teach me guitar.

I bought one. The good news is that the book was well written. The bad news is that the software stinks. Nope, not going to mention the product name.

The interesting thing is that I was able to connect the guitar to the computer and the computer to
my stereo. You run the program and they have an animated fretboard. You play the music by following the fretboard. I spent a week getting to the point where the computer thought I played
getting the first exercise right.

The funny part is that it said I played well enough to move on when I knew I hit bad notes. It said practice more when I played every note clearly. This program or my sound card (first version of the sound Blaster Live) has ears worse than my 42 yo body has.

This first exercise was a chromatic exercise. You play frets 5 through 8 on each string with each finger. Fret five always with the first (index) finger and fret 8 always with the fourth (pinky) finger.

There are a lot of little muscles in your hand and arm that even when weight lifting you don't use
like this. I think even when I tied Fly fishing flies, I did not have this type of pain.

I would play for a couple of minutes and the tendons in my elbow would hurt or my wrist, or the
outside of my hand. Now in September, the pain is when I stretch 4 or 5 frets.

Guitar position...

The books have a few different positions. First problem, I don't cross my legs. That eliminates 2 positions. I use a neck strap. I have a bad lower back, so standing for 30-60 minutes to practice is out.

I just sit in a stiff back chair with a neck strap to position the guitar. Now, I have a 44 inch waist.
So the guitar tilts up against my stomach. Great for seeing what I am doing. Bad for correctly
arching the wrist.

For a while I put a towel at the top of the guitar to angle it down. Now after 2 months, I'm used to it and can play for a few minutes at a time without needing a rest.

The end rule is, if it hurt in all positions, choose the one that hurt the least and take a lot of breaks.
If you find that you start playing more and more notes correctly and your arm is hurting less and
less, it is a matter of strength and flexibility. If not, try another position, work with your guitar teacher.

Getting Started.......
Buying a guitar is complicated. I know I wanted an electric. Mostly so I would not bother my neighbors. I figured I could get something with a small amp that accepted head phones.

I looked on the Web and found some basic info on guitar types and construction. I knew the names Gibson and Fender.

I went to a local music store, Gelb in Redwood City, and spent an hour. Good folks. Showed me a couple of cords. I saw for the money that I could not get an American made guitar. I was shown Mexican Strats.

I went to this small music store in Alameda, CA, Thinman Music. Started looking at guitars. Had $300 in mind for a first guitar. This place is an eclectic selection of guitars. I started playing some. It really is confusing. I talked so someone who was trying guitars. He was playing Jazz. He sounded good. He was playing an Ibanez. He showed me that one and the clerk showed me some Chinese made guitar. I was looking at a Charvel. Both the shopper and clerk said for a first guitar, getting a locking nut bridge was not advised. I did not like the Chinese guitar. It was not constructed well.

I tried the Ibanez. It is a 1978 PF-100. Looks like a Les Paul. Not as heavy. But it was heavy.
It was built like something I'd send $1000 on if new. It has a 3 piece laminate maple neck. Mahogany body with a birch top. For $350 I got a Kustom practice amp, strings and a gig bag. I also bought a neck strap, an electric tuner and extra strings.

Was was really just shopping. I was not going to buy until September. I wanted to wait until I finished my Cisco CCNP certification and start taking lessons.

Well this was too good a deal to pass up. So now I have a guitar in Mid-July.

History.............

Welcome. I'll be talking about my experience learning to play guitar. I have tried a number of time in my life to learn.

First some history. Next I'll talk about my obsessive behavior.

When I was about 8 my dad bought my cousins Gibson Melody Maker and a MelBay book. Never got me lessons. I just never went very far with it. Being someone who had to figure out how everything worked, I found the truss rod. I wound up cracking the neck. My dad sold to someone who repaired and sold guitars.

When I was 15 I asked for another guitar. This time I got a cheap acoustic. Same book, but we could not afford lessons. I think we sold the guitar at a garage sale. I learned to play single notes. I played hava nigila and Yesterday.

Then in my late 20's I tried again. This time I was too stupid to take lessons. I found a good used acoustic. I replaced the tuners. I gave up after about 6 months. My buddy Jim still has this guitar. I wound up trading him for it. What I don't remember at this time what I traded for though. Jim still has this guitar. I don't think he plays either.

Guitar is not the only instrument I've tried to play. I tried drums. I got a snare drum and symbol for my 10th birthday. Again the melbay book. I did not get very far.

In 6th grade I took lessons through the school. That lasted about 2 months. I really disliked the music teacher. I think he was required to stay after school. It showed in his attitude that he did not want to be there.

I tried playing my Great Uncles Ukelele. It looks like a miniature 4 string banjo. Since on the Uke you play mostly cords, I did not play very well. Again no lessons.

Harmonica. I took lesson, owned videos and books. You just can't play harmonica if your lips don't stay wet.

Here I go again. I am trying guitar again. But I am taking lessons this time.