First things first..

When I first picked up my grandfather’s guitar, I had a small hope that maybe my lessons from 10 years ago might magically still be programed into my brain… sadly but also excitingly, it has been a blank canvas. One thing that has not changed, is the difficulty of hitting a G chord with my genetically small hands. Trust me, the struggle is still real.

I took my guitar into the store to get tuned and for a new string, while I was there I was told that in fact, I should not be playing this guitar but rather placing it in a glass box to perserve it… maybe after my learning project? It turns out this 1960 guitar is in pretty good shape and is not usually circulating around the shops for a tuning.

I first wanted to relearn the basic chords of guitar: C, A, D, G, and E, so I decided to head to the internet to see what that looked like. I came across 7 basic guitar chords (link) and began to practice each chord on its own.

What I’m working with…

When I couldn’t correctly get my fingers on the strings, I decided to research tips, I found that my hand cannot be straight up and down, but rather angled, intersting and also very difficult! This easy to use website provided basic images for me to follow but also, without any previous knowledge or memory about learning guitar, I found myself getting lost in what each symbol represented. What is the ‘x’, or the colour in circle versus the blank circle? How would I even know if I was playing the chords correctly?? Ahh. I am trying my best but finding it difficult to learn from a static website of text, information, and small images. Also, I am not sure my guitar is still in tune, or maybe I am just developing my ear for music incorrectly, next step, learning to self tune my guitar?? Or maybe I will wait a little bit to take on that strenuous task.

I am already starting to get calluses on my finger tips and I think it may be time that I cut my nails in order for this learning journey to be successful and less stressful. I am much futher in my learning now, but the first few experiences were tediuos and difficult, but I enjoy seeing my progress as I continue this journey.. stay tuned for a videos and likely more stress to follow!