Me and My Guitar

This is basically a little documentation to myself but if you are reading this - I hope you will stick with it and maybe give a little advice if you play an instrument. We all need a little encouragement no matter the situation.

I have now been taking guitar lessons for 4 months now- I actually started March 26th and there have probably been 3 weeks during this time that lessons were missed due to things beyond my control - bad storm knocking out electricity, my instructor having to take his finals - that sort of thing.

So where am I now? Well, let's see ---
here are the chords I know and am comfortable playing.


G  A  E  Am  Em  C  D  

Here are the chords I "know" but still have trouble with

Csus   Bsus   F   A2   

I can strum fairly well, but seem to be stuck on the same 2 patterns. I try to pick - but that doesn't come naturally to me. I have a LOT of trouble keeping my thumb back in the position it needs to be in order to learn harder chords down the road.

I have been told by a few people that playing the guitar comes naturally to me - so if that is the case, why am I so discouraged right now? I feel like I should be so much further along. I know I am a perfectionist - I know I am very hard on myself about any and everything. I think I am at a crossroads that a lot of people come to and this is what makes or breaks them. I am sure there are plenty of people that get discouraged by this point and this is where they give up. I don't want to do that. I want to hang in there. Right at this very moment - I feel like it, tho. I feel like it is sink or swim time. My instructor is not going too fast - but I am struggling to keep up. 


I have been told that one day it is going to just all "click" and everything will make sense - I have been told average is 6 months - you just all of a sudden understand the chords, the fingers do what the brain tells them - it starts to sound like real music. 


I have just got to hang in there!

 

Meet Martin

I got it! woohoooo - my new Martin  X series guitar - solid black - pretty as can be. Sounds like a dream - even with ME playing it. The picture just does not do it justice - (this was taken with my phone)

I can't wait to show my instructor next week when I go for my lessons!

My "secret" guitar lessons are no longer a secret

The jig is up. The cat is out of the bag.
My husband now knows my secret - after taking guitar lessons for 5 weeks, I decided to let him in on it.
Why?

Mainly because I was getting such little time to practice between lessons. My lessons are on Mondays from 4 - 4:30. I only have about 15 minutes to practice Monday - Thursday in the early mornings before going to work. He is home on Fridays - so that meant no practicing from Friday - Sunday AT ALL - we are pretty much always together. He gets home in the evenings around 5ish plus I cook - so that meant only a few minutes once I got home from work. I just wasn't able to get much time in. My instructor has been pretty impressed with how fast I am catching on and made the comment that it was a shame my husband didn't know so I  could practice any time I wanted - I was really doing a disservice to myself. Just think how much better I would be if I was practicing every day and throughout the day! I started thinking about that - plus factor in the amount of money I am spending for lessons - yea - he needed to know.

So - now he knows - and believe me - it was hilarious just letting him in on it even at this point with what I have learned. I picked up my guitar and just set down while he was busy on his computer and started picking around - then played the one song I have been working on - I went through all 7 chords I have learned - and he finally started paying attention and putting 2 and 2 together.

He is VERY excited - it has renewed his interest in playing ( which is what I hoped for!) and we are going to buy me a "better" guitar this weekend. He wants me to get a Martin D15 - so that is pretty great!

Here are some pics from the little video I had set up to catch some of his expressions during the time I was playing around - waiting for him to snap to what I was trying to tell him. The video will take forever to edit enough to make public - lol

Check out the video of:

Me Playing after 4 lessons

High 5 For Friday!

Happy Friday!

Another week come and gone - getting close to the countdown - school will out soon and the kids are going wild!

Linking up to Lauren From My Grey Desk

#1 - it's a Biggy - I let my husband in on the big secret - he now knows about my guitar lessons...I will have to do a separate post on how that all happened - it was pretty funny!  he is very excited for me and wants to buy a Martin D-15 for me this weekend! Below are a few of his expressions I pulled from the hidden video I had going when I started playing while he was at his computer - priceless!

#2 I ordered a stainless steel guitar pick that is personalized with "Pamela & Bradley" - can't wait for it to come in and give it a try. I just know it will make me sound AWESOME...lol


#3 My daughter got a new job closer to her home - a huge relief to me - she will be 5 minutes from home  instead of 45 minutes - I am so glad she will not be on the road so much!

#4 I was asked to do a product review - that will happening later this month - stay tuned!

#5 I sold almost $50 worth of baby fish this week and then 3 more batches were born! Love my 8 aquariums! I have 55 gallon, 37 gallon, 29 gallon, 6.5 gallon, (2) 5 gallon, and just under 2 gallon for Mr. Betta. I also have a 20 gallon at work in my office.

OOTD Tuesday

I decided to take a picture while sporting my guitar. Wouldn't this make a lovely album cover for my first hit single? HA! HA! (don't I wish!)

You can't see my shoes in the photo, but I LOVE them. They are my "new favs" in dress shoes.  #1 they are red and #2 they are sooo comfortable! I got them at Marshalls & they are Guess.

I have on Vera Wang jeggings and Apt 9 top from Kohls.

My guitar is a Yamaha acoustic.

You can find the leggings and blouse by visting www.kohls.com

High Five For F R I D A Y

So Ready for the Weekend  - TGIF

Even tho I had a short week - I stayed home yesterday due to my lazy gallbladder (see previous post) it was still a LONG week because of STAAR - state testing.

Here are my top 5 Highlights of the week:

1. I reached $100 in Adsense for my Youtube videos and blogs - my goal was by June - so since I made my goal early - that makes me happy. I am not blogging for the $ - but if I can get paid for doing it - why not, right?

2. I saved $404 at Kohls PLUS got back $50 in Kohl's cash - went back 2 days later and spent enough for $20 more AND I had a 30% coupon!!

3. I downloaded Draw Something and got totally addicted...not sure if that is a good thing or not.

4. I lost 2 pounds - I have sworn off sweets for the time being. I would have hoped for more, but 2 pounds is probably healthier than 10, which I would have preferred :-)

and....

5.  I started "secret" guitar lessons. shhh! I will blog about that later!

I hope all have a happy Friday - and are doing the happy dance with me.
Linkin' up with From My Grey Desk