When you really enjoy something that you're not even very good at...

Lost Words

I have been practising, and practising, and guess what? Yes, done even more practising, trying desperately over it has to be three years now to learn to play the guitar.

  I love picking up my various guitars and either trying to make my way through a complete song, following YouTube videos at times or getting hold of tab sheets, and trying to figure out which chords to play, or which strings to play, like in a finger picking style.

When I hear a song I like, and it could be like recently and watching "The Last of Us", then hearing Joel play "Future days", well, I try and pick up my guitar and get the hang of the song. Recently, I have been attempting Crowded House's "Better Be Home Soon."

I also attempt to write stuff, admittedly it's not always great, but I find it helps me relax, and it is interesting trying to create something. Just lately, I wrote some words and couldn't help but think of how to create a melody. When my guitar tutor, a lovely fella called Tom, came for our lesson, which is only once per week for an hour, and he tried to explain the concept, well, it just went over my head.

Tom has, from the start, attempted to teach me music theory; it may as well be rocket science or nuclear physics, as most of the time it just goes straight over my head, or it will take me months, then just out of the blue strike me with an "Ahhh!" moment.

I can tell I am going through a mental phase, sort of, reaching out to try and find things that make me happy. It always happens when I lose a sense of purpose and end up being stuck in the house. I have now been off work since the 31st of August, no bike rides in that time, and apart from my regular, around the block on a morning with wor Nev, I haven't been out too much, though did enjoy a look out to see my Aunt and Uncle, and then on the way home ern and I took Neville over the field at the back of Langley View and let him run around in the huge field. It was the first time he had been allowed to run free, mind you, he had his leader attached, just in case. Not that either Ern or I could catch him if he made off. I mean 'm a professional cripple, and Ern is almost 85.

So in my downtime, I wrote this, which describes how I can't think of the melody or tune to go with another set of lyrics.

Lost Words

I've been trying to write a melody that fits a sad song
It's been taking me days and days; I've been on for so long.

My hands are so sore, and my fingers are numb. I've been on for hours and hours just strumming this old dark guitar.

 I'm just like an old forty-five that is stuck in its groove. Just spinning to the same old sound, and I'm getting nowhere

I put my guitar down and I think for a while, then I go and pick it up again, maybe I'll give it one more try.

All of these words, written on a page, are lost with nowhere to go. I'll be haunted to the end of time.

Oh, and as boredom has set in, I have now been looking at another guitar. It's weird, as I must try and convince myself that if I just get a more expensive guitar, I will miraculously play better. Maybe I need to do a Robert Johnson and meet the Devil at the crossroads and sell my soul. Hey, if you haven't seen the movie with RalpMacchio called "Crossroads,"  from way back in 1986, also featuring Steve Vai, well, it's well worth a watch.

Gibson L-00 Vintage Sunburst

                                                                                                                                           Anyhoo, a new guitar on my radar is a Gibson L-00 Special Satin Vintage Sunburst. Here, check out a few pics. It looks gorgeous

Looks awesome

  

It's a smaller-bodied guitar, which I prefer as I am trying to play sitting on the couch with my prosthetic leg; the larger guitars tend to slip off, and I can't get comfortable. Most people, if they are right-handed, place a guitar on their right thigh. I have to sit with it over to the left, which again makes a big guitar difficult to handle.

No doubt I will post something if I decide to invest. Lol, I am of course attempting to avoid temptation...Now, where are those crossroads again?

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

For Yonks now, I have had this underlying... I don't know what you would call it, need, want or desire to get myself a guitar and try to learn to play. In hindsight, I should have bought a guitar years ago, like when I was first poorly with my leg and stuck in the house doing bugger all. I mean I might have been kind of descent by now, or not, who knows.

Over the years I have perused the various online shops and watched YouTube videos thinking "man I wish I could play a guitar". Then a few weeks ago I thought to myself instead of wishing, why not be proactive and just give it a go.

So, not knowing the first thing about anything to do with guitars, I started looking at reviews of equipment and got my eye on a dinky little guitar which I really liked the form factor of. It is an Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

 My thinking was if I learnt to play to an okay standard the guitar would be an ideal travel size, something I could pop in my old Bug Myrtle and head off somewhere quiet and just strum away. 

I guess it all goes with my overactive imagination of either sitting by a peaceful Loch in Scotland or my dream house, again in Scotland playing by a log burner on an evening with a roaring fire and a lovely view....Ahhh! To dream.

After watching some guitar tutorials and downloading the Fender app, I kind of convinced myself "hey you could possibly do some of that".

Anyhoo this morning our electric was off, bare with me here. I got up in the dark, managed to get ready and headed off for work. After finishing early as I am on a phased return, due to my stupid prosthetic leg killing me, I came home to discover our electric was still off and Ern was wrapped up in a throw lying in the dog-end with wor Baxter on the old beat up sofa.

I was due to pick up my new spectacles at 15:30pm, so asked Ern did he fancy a look-out to grab a nice cup of coffee, just to get out the house and fill in a little time before I went to collect my gigs. So we got wrapped up and jumped in Tango, my wee Smart car, and we headed up to Stanley. Rather than drive home, I suggested we just sit in the car and drink our coffee, as there was only about 30 minutes to wait before my appointment at Young's Opticians.

Whilst we were waiting I happened to get my phone out and decided to show my dad the Fender App that I had downloaded, and together we watched the short tutorials and had a canny chat which I really enjoyed. 

You see, my dad has been really hard of hearing of late, and yesterday he went to get his ears syringed, and I think his hearing is much improved. It has been dreadful trying to talk to him of late as he gets frustrated and a bit ratty, so I have basically avoided chatting to him, something I really miss.

As I saw my dad was taking a real interest in the guitar lessons, I quizzed him about when he was young, as I could recall him telling me he used to play the violin. It was lovely to hear him talk of being a young boy and learning the violin. I then asked him would he actually like a guitar for Christmas and was astounded when he said "Yes" as normally my dad always says  "well I don't really want or need anything". It's a warm and fuzzy feeling to be able to treat him to something that I think he will get some enjoyment from.

When we got home from the opticians, the electric was still off, so Ern suggested we head back up to Stanley and visit Home Bargains to get some candles and a lighter. This time we jumped in his car and took Baxter for a ride out, as he loves just lying in the back of my dad's car all snuggled up in his blanket.

A leisurely walk around Home Bargains grabbing a few odds and ends including two candles and a lighter, and we returned home. The leccy was still off. We had to wait about an hour or so before it came back on. My dad then put his computer on, and we had a good look at various guitars, checking out their reviews.  We came across an East coast Guitar a T1 Thin line, it is a budget guitar, however in the YouTube review at Andertons, sounded really good. The guitar came as a complete starter pack and had been reduced from £324, down to £249. I stepped out of the room to go and put my own computer on and when I came back downstairs my dad said "Okay I have ordered that guitar". That kind of told me he was quite excited.

 

East coast T1 Thin line

 

Anyhoo it's a Christmas present, so I will square up with him pay day. I guess he is now getting a guitar rather than the Ninja Foodie air fryer I had originally bought for him earlier this month for Christmas, LoL.

As my dad had just ordered his gear from Andertons, I thought I may as well go and have a look at the stuff I would like. As I mentioned earlier, I fancied an Ibanez and to go with this also would need an amp. Again, I had done a bit of research and opted for an Orange Crush 20rt. I wanted a black cabinet, rather than the orange coloured one, and managed to find one at GAK (Guitars Amp & Keyboards) for a reasonable price of £125.

 

Orange Crush20rt

Orange Crush 20rt

I then went over to Andertons and ordered the Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black, along with a Tourtech 3 metre braided cable and a variety pack of Dunlop picks.

Ibanez Gio Mikro

    

Tourtech Braided cable

      

Dunlop Variety of picks

 This evening, chatting to my dad, it was lovely to hear him talking about years gone by. I asked him, "So, how old were you when you were learning to play the violin?". My dad then went on to tell me the story of not only how old he recalls he was, but also how he got into the violin. My dad would have been around 10 or 11 years old when he was playing his small violin. His grandfather, so that is my Great Grandfather, was a Big man and also played the violin, however had to have a custom one made as he was such a large chap. Ern says it probably would have been more like a viola. I asked my da  "So were you forced into learning to play" to which he replied "No I quite enjoyed it, following in his grandfathers footsteps". He then went on to tell me he even got to play in an Orchestra at the old Johnson School", there is a new school there now in Durham, I think it is the one on the way to Neville's Cross.

I recalled a time from my school days and said to my dad "I was in a school orchestra, well kinda you know". "Yeah, it was when I was about Ooh 6 or something". My dad jested, "what did you play? The tambourine". "No" I replied, we played at the old church in Stanley, it's knocked down now. I think the Joke Centre used to be there. We played and sang to Little Donkey and I played the Coconut shells to which my dad chuckled saying "Aye I bet you went Clippety Clop, Clip" as if your donkey had lost a shoe.


And so both of us are looking forward to this new challenge/interest, and we will see if you can teach old dogs new tricks...