yeah, it's a little too quiet...

...PHRWOOAAAA SKRWEEEEEE FRTHAAANG WIDDLY WIDDLY WIDDLY WIDDLY FWWWOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR !!!!!!!....

....Is everyone awake now???

GG2 - hey, how are you? All well here, my guitar practice time has shrunk but I am trying to get in every day a little session. Mostly focussing on trying to learn Ten Words on the Tele, I'm about 5 bars in and it is really a challenge for a beginner, lots of slides (mine sound VERY interesting ;0)) Luckily a really terrific French guy posted on youtoob a series of tutorials on how to play it so you can go note by note and follow what he is doing. At this rate I will have it nailed by around 2011.

We've sorted most of the setting up of our newly renovated house so I think I'll try to find a guitar teacher and start some lessons. I got the Hal Leonard book you recommended which is great, but I have to trasnscribe the musical notation into alpah notes which takes a lot of time.

That was only on 4!!! Can I turn it up more ..... pleeeeeeeezz???

Congratulations to Jeff Beck, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight as a solo artist. He's in there twice, now (he was inducted as a member of the Yardbirds in 1992).

Metallica and Run DMC are among the other bands who made it in.

Skippygirl - When I was learning to play bass, slides gave me more trouble than anything else. I don't know what makes them tough for you, but I was always too quick with them. It took a while to get that down but now they're one of the easiest things to do...so, stick with it.

The anti-Hall of Fame voices have gotten louder in recent years and, well, I think you'll appreciate what James Hetfield said during Metallica's acceptance speech:

"Dream big and dare to fail, because this is living proof that it is possible to make a dream come true," said frontman-guitarist James Hetfield, who then rattled off a long list of hard-rocking bands he feels deserve induction.

"Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Iron Maiden, Motorhead. We'd like to invite them through the door," said Hetfield, who concluded his remarks by wrapping Ulrich in a bear hug.

I'm not much of a Metallica fan (I know they're influential and I appreciate what they've done, but I personally don't really like their music), but I'm so glad James spoke up about this...it's about time someone did.

Thanks cosmic-ape, burly, scuby and Do The Stu for your feedback.

burly - hmmmm the DW lessons look interesting!

Do The Stu - having not ever actually been shown how to slide, I just try to follow the guy on the YT vid. I worked out it seems to be like this - pick the string, slide to destination fret, and then possibly pick the string again, depends (can't see the guy's right hand). So, provided I wait for the true note on the original string/fret, THEN slide, I can hear the additional new note which comes from the finger passing over the intervening fret/s.

The best ones are the ones I do with the 3rd finger, the worst are with the 1st finger, and where you do a 180 i.e. 5th to 7th fret then immediately back 7th to 5th.

But overall I am pleased that it sounds something like Ten Words so far! :0)

Austin-Someone once told me that Tom Petty mentioned Rush in his speech.

Austin- I did not see the show this year but am glad to see an inductee speak up for these bands who are such a viable part of music history.

I was never a big fan of "Pre-Black Album" Metallica, I did like the Black Album and some of the material thereafter (not all).

Scuba- I am curious about the Mac version I think it's icam,..is that right? If I were to participate in any lesson, I would want it to be theory driven and not based on a song. That is what 99.9% of music students want is to be able to play a song right from the start, and I understand why.

Skippy- My honest opinion is that is a new student will spend the time to learn the notes and where they are on the neck, they can better utilize a quality teacher. I will not spend the money on my daughter until I am sure she knows them cold. She can already play songs by learning a few basic chords and then learned more complicated chords by learning to read tabs. She is considered a good guitar player by her peers even though I know of at least 1 one other kid who is really good, and I suspect he knows quite a bit about theory. The notes and exercises that help teach you the notes are boring and time consuming but will be worth taking the time. Hang in there. I am 43 and it is more difficult to learn new things than if was 14 again.I fell into a rut afteer learning how to get around in the minor pentatonic scales, with a little Dorian and Lydian mixed in. ( I just didn't know I was dabbling in the modes, I had picked them up by accident.) I learned how to get around in these pretty good and could play some stuff very well, but when it came to different styles of music I was pretty much dead in the water. I wish I had been more disciplined in learning more about theory, intervals, scales and modes etc.back when my mind was young. But I am learning. It just takes longer. You can do it too.

My daughter showed up last semester for Jazz band tryouts with her guitar and was very nervous about making it. There were probably 8-10 other kids who showed up with their guitars which further intimidated her. The next week she was the only 1 there because all the other kids were too intimidated and I am guessing that they didn't have someone pushing them to try.

The teacher gave them all a couple of sheets of jazz chords to learn which was intimidating to me as well but knew it was doable. She would have quit if I hadn't encouraged her. Unfortunately the teachers are not really "guitar savvy".

Turns out she was already in Jazz band because of her trumpet ability. She hates the trumpet and will not practice unless she has to.

In the past there have been jazz band guitar players in the program but have pretty much had to take it upon themselves to work it out, which I have encouraged.

"im never drinking again" Alan McKenna--Your 4 words stand out to me......You have the desire and let's see ya put this into practice....I BELIEVE.....Joe said we can change anything!

SkippyGirl---Getting that quiet time to practice guitar is very difficult when I need to give my time and attention to my Steve who asks me why his life is so difficult.....he works at Home Depot and has super co-workers who help him take breaks when he needs them......and has so many simple partial seizures.....takes a medication to stop them.......he says taking meds works for a short time and then he has to take the stuff again.......auugghh!....asking why doesn't work......I'm here and I care does. I'm glad for any time I have to practice, even if it's only 15 min. to 1/2 hour. I just do what is possible.

Guitarvibes--I love the Dutch attitude......democracy and capitalism with compassion and a comfortable, clean, honest living......not extravagant......sustainable......music (the arts)being a necessity for our collective health! I'm loving reading the M Resch book!

DotheStu--Your sharing is priceless......I'm enjoying the pictures.

E minor is a beautiful chord......I hope the Moody Blues found that "Lost Chord" from their album.."In Search of the Lost Chord"......LOL! ;-)

Mornin' everyone----It's coffee time!