Thank You, Richard O'Brien

I normally wouldn't post twice in one day, but I just finished practicing my guitar, and I'm pretty psyched!

Until I get a book on the subject, I've been using this website to help me out...

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Play_Guitar

and I've been working on the first set of basic chords (C, A, G, E, D).

After several minutes of going through them, though, I got a little bored... I know I'm supposed to memorize finger positions and everything, but it wasn't holding my attention. It was just random chords, not, you know, music.

So I got out my most well-used piano book ("The Rocky Horror Show") and tried to find some simple songs.

In my heyday, I could bang out the entire show on the piano (I used to have the entire book pretty much memorized), but on the Seagull... well, I was crazily limited: the verses for "Sweet Transvestite," most of "The Sword of Damocles," "Whatever Happened to Satuday Night," and "Eddie's Teddy" (incidentally, the Roxy cast version of that last one is one of my all-time favorite songs).

It was pretty slow going, but wow, it was a lot of fun - I kept going even after my fingers said it was time to stop. It was just so thrilling to experience the songs fresh, and I never get bored playing. But if anyone knows of other songs that use those five beginner chords, please let me know!

And I promise that this won't turn into a blog solely devoted to me learning the guitar.

My fingertips are burning.

The Seagull S6

I bought my first guitar on Saturday.

This was a pretty easy decision to make, to be honest, because I've been wanting to learn a new instrument for some time now. I can play the piano and accordion (even though I'm not that great), but I've been wanting to move on to something different. Something stringed.

I was seriously considering the harp, because it's one of my all-time favorite instruments, but decided that a guitar is more accessible. Also, once I can play the guitar (a two-planed instrument), I figure it shouldn't be so hard to move on to the (single-planed) harp.

Anyway, my friend Terry helped me pick it out, and here it is..
The real Yes wasn't in the purchase, though, it'll be in learning how to play and practicing regularly. It's a lot like joining a gym - the victory isn't in getting a membership, it's in actually exercising. Last year I joined my neighborhood dive gym for super-cheap... and stopped going within two months. But that was 2007. 2008 will be (and already is) different.

My plan is to play just a little every day, get my fingers strong, memorize chords, take it slow. It's already a little frustrating because I'm teaching myself, and I have yet to figure out the guitar "formula," like which frets make which notes, and why. I'm probably going to map it, like I mapped the bass buttons on my accordion to help memorize their location.

Terry made a good point - he figured things out for himself, and even if it's like re-inventing the wheel, it sticks better that way.

Oh, Seagull. I'm pretty happy with the way this weekend turned out, but I'll have to post about the other Yes later - my fingertips are sore.