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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Hi From Stockholm

Posted by: ceg4048 Oct 31 2012, 07:24 PM

Hi folks,
Just thought I'd post an introduction. How did I wind up here? Well I saw this cool looking "Strat" look-a-like body online and won the bid. A friend of mine is an amateur guitar builder so he wired it up for me and and fixed the things that reminded me of why it's a $50 body of unknown origin. I thought how cool it would be to actually learn to play it. I really dig this machine. I've sat in my practice room and just hypnotized myself for hours repeatedly strumming the three or four chords that I learned so far. Is this behavior unhealthy? Should I seek counseling?

I've always loved guitar from Hendrix to George Benson to McGlaughlin to Al Dimeola, but the thought of playing this instrument always seemed completely beyond reach. All those notes. At least a piano has a visual roadmap, 3 black keys, two white, two black and so forth, but this instrument, well, it just always seemed like tic-tac-toe from hell. 22 frets, 6 strings. I decided to play and memorize just all the Gs. I know where all the Gs are now. Only 120 more notes to go.

However, after finding and following some of the Absolute Beginner lessons here and putting in some time practicing scales, picking and spider exercises, a few weeks on, suddenly, things don't seem quite as far fetched.

I'm 52, an American living in Sweden, and have previously studied the rudiments of music with the flute and a little piano, so I think perhaps some months down the line I might actually be able to play a real tune or maybe two.

One thing that bugs me though; Was the guy who invented the guitar a lefty? It doesn't seem reasonable to me that the most difficult work, the fretboard, should be done with the off side hand. I mean, is there something I'm not aware of that makes picking and strumming that much more difficult than working the frets? Wouldn't it be better for a righty to use his right hand to fret? I need to know this because it's still early days and as fingering got more difficult, I started seriously thinking of getting a Left Handed guitar, which just makes more sense to me, but I might be missing something. So my question is; Is there some overwhelming reason that right handed players choose to fret with their left hand?

Anyway, happy to be here and looking forward to improving.

Cheers,
Clive.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 1 2012, 12:05 AM

Hi Clive!! Welcome to the site mate! Your question is very clever and is something that I have never wondered... Sincerely I just hold the guitar like every right handed person that plays guitar. I don't know the answer to what you said but I'm curious to know what everybody says about it.
Enjoy GMC and let us know how we can help you with your learning process.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 1 2012, 09:55 AM

Howdy Clive! Welcome to GMC! Good question indeed! Well, I think you should try it and see how it feels

Who knows? I have a very good friend who is a leftie but plays right handed like the majority, so I guess it's just a personal matter for everyone. Let us know how it goes and also, if you got any questions - please go ahead and ask

Cosmin

Posted by: jstcrsn Nov 1 2012, 12:43 PM

from an American who lives in America ,who happens to play left handed due to an injury- learn right handed, it is just as awkward either way as a beginner , but being right handed you will have many more choices when you want to buy another axe

Posted by: ceg4048 Nov 1 2012, 05:21 PM

Hi guys,
Thanks for the welcome!

I guess you guys are right. I just tried out a lefty axe and it felt just as awkward. I tried that spider exercise, where you move the 1-3 and 2-4 in pairs across the board, and was shocked to discover that it wasn't any easier. I guess no one uses these particular muscles on either hand for anything else, kind of like horse riding muscles.

jstcrsn does raise a good point in that there does seem to be a lot more choices available for right handed instruments.

OK, I'll carry on and just keep hacking away. Thanks for your support and advice. It's very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Clive

Posted by: Ben Higgins Nov 2 2012, 12:31 PM

Hi Clive and welcome to GMC !

If you are right handed then I would seriously encourage you to keep playing the way you are. I think that being right hand dominant means that we feel like the right hand is the one that is 'driving' the guitar with strumming, driving the rhythm etc, so maybe that's a possible reason why things are that way ?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 3 2012, 04:53 PM

That's a great looking custom axe! Welcome to GMC! This is THE place to be IMHO if you want to get better. It's simply not possible to be here and participate and not get better! Jump in!

Todd

Posted by: Dieterle Nov 3 2012, 07:48 PM

Hey Wellcome ,

great to have a 52er here , i am 53

your guitar is just beautiful i like it !

Dieter

Posted by: ceg4048 Nov 6 2012, 10:50 PM

Thanks Ben/Todd, yeah seems like a good point. I guess I've underrated the importance of the picking hand. I'm certainly better than I was a few weeks ago, but the improvements are never fast enough for me.

Hi Dieter, OK well I feel better not being the oldest rookie.
Thanks, I love the planet theme inlays on the fretboard because they not only look cool, but help me to remember where some notes are. Much more interesting (to me) that just plain dots.

Cheers,
Clive