CA Bay Area new member

[jimcjimc]

I'm 56 years old and started learning the guitar 2 years ago.

I attended "Learning to Play" and several more guitar workshops of Carol McComb at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto - I live in Cupertino, near San Jose, CA.

I have a Taylor 114 acoustic guitar. At Carol's workshops I learned a lot of songs but am still working on chord changes & strumming techniques (One of my excuses is I am left-handed but trying to play right-handed

For a while I was playing once a week with 3 (much better than me) guitar playing friends. That was very helpful and I would like to re-start something like that.

I like Bob Dylan and have the Anthology song book I have been working through. I try to play/practice nearly every day but I think my practice routine is a bit random. I have used some free internet guitar lessons - I like guitar-noise.com and for a while was tracking siggi from Germany and Mark Easley from NC on youtube.

Anyway, last month my wife and I went to see Keola Beamer at Montalvo and Neil was the opening act. He mentioned the Totally Guitars website. I checked out the free stuff for a few weeks then recently joined the Target program and now am beginning to go through the beginner lessons and acoustic genius series - looks like good stuff so far!

[Lavallee]

Hi Jim, welcome at TG from Canada. You will find that joining TG was your best idea of the year. You will find everything to guide you to improve your guitarself. Neil is a fantastic teacher. You have a wide variety of song to choose from. You have the genius section for the theory. You will find a lot of help on the forum. I bet the Keaola/Neil show was very entertaining, we are waiting toi see some clips.

Marc

[BobR]

Welcome Jim, from Massachusetts

I have been a member since the beginning. This by far the best guitar site. You will enjoy and learn a lot. Keep on strumming!!

Bob

[dennisg]

Greetings, Jim, from sunny Seattle. I don't think Totally Guitars is your best idea of the year. I think it's your best idea of the next several years. You're going to love being here, and we're happy to have you join us.

- Dennis

[BigBear]

Jim- Big welcome from your northern neighbor in Oregon! You'll fit right in here with all us 50 and 60-somethings.

I envy you getting to see Neil and Keola in the same concert. What a treat! We're all hoping Neil will post some videos of that show.

I hope you enjoy your experience here at TG and if we can every help you out with any problems or questions just let us know.You'll get more help than you can possibly use!

Good luck!

Cheers! :cheer:

[Music Junkie]

Hey Jim, welcome from about 6 hours down the coast from you here in Ventura! Glad you decided to join up. I have actually been to Gryphon Stringed Instruments before. It is a great place! Almost bought a Martin there, but was afraid I'd get in trouble when I got home....lol

Feel free to ask any questions, and have fun!

MJ

[johnrfeeney]

GREETINGS, from the Temecula Valley - S Cal

[jeffb]

Greetings from Sydney from across the great Pacific Ocean. I'm a Dylan fan too.

[goldleaf]

Hi Jim, glad you decided to go with us at TG. I live in Grass Valley, CA about 1 hour north of Sacramento. We are here to help however we can, so let me start by asking a question. Why, if you are left handed are you trying to learn to play right handed? I can't imagine the degree of difficulty it would add for me to play with my non dominant hand. Just curious. Anyway welcome to TG. Gary

[jimcjimc]

Goldleaf asked:
Why, if you are left handed are you trying to learn to play right handed? I can't imagine the degree of difficulty it would add for me to play with my non dominant hand. Just curious.

I definitely am a left-handed person. I write and throw and play tennis etc (even bought golf clubs that are) left-handed. When I researched the idea of playing guitar left-handed (and talked to folks at Gryphon when I bought my guitar), while there is some controversy on the topic most folks seem to recommend lefties to try to play the guitar right-handed. You can google left-handed guitar playing and read all of the pros and cons. One of the best arguments seems to be if you go to someone else's house and want to pick up a guitar, it will probably be a right handed guitar (It's all about adapting to a right-handed world.)

Anyway when I started playing, it seems most of the emphasis (chord formation) is on the left hand. The more I play, the more important I realize the right hand is. About 6 months after I started (and at a point where I felt I was struggling), I was wondering if I should start over left-handed. I went to the guitar shop and tried the left handed guitars. Except for knowledge of how to form a certain chord, I realized I would have to start over from the very beginning (and buy a new guitar.)

I decided to just tough it out (and play right handed) and I think now I am doing OK and getting better at rhythm and making it sound like music with my right hand.