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Hello from Alan in Texas.

I joined TARGET last month. Almost every day since joining, I’ve been logging on to have Neil lay some knowledge on me. I’m finally getting around to checking out the community aspect of the site. So here’s a little introduction.

I’m 41 years old and live in Central Texas. I first picked up the guitar when I was thirteen. I took a couple of lessons but was mostly self-taught from Guitar Magazine and a few Arlen Roth books.

I learned enough to join a local band. I wasn’t much of a guitarist but I had a really cool looking Carvin. We knew how to rock, and managed to get consistent shows at local clubs, showcases and parties. We practiced a lot and had a ball. It was a huge part of my life in high school.

After school days, guitar became less important. I’d pull it out occasionally to impress girls. But I was never a strong singer. So even though I could play opening riffs and bits and pieces of hundreds of songs my playing was stuck in rut of just bringing out the same tired songs. I never bothered to learn entire songs and my rhythm playing was so poor it was easy to get frustrated and bored. I never developed a solid foundation.

Fast forward to the last two years, I started spending time on instruction sites and getting a solid understanding of rhythm. I already had a lot of left hand “knowledge”, I was just missing the all important right hand “emotion” and beat. My playing improved immediately. Man do I wish I had access to this type of instruction when I was just learning. The books I used to self teach didn’t help much in explaining right hand technique.

I eventually found Neil on YouTube breaking down the Dead tune “Ripple”. It was obvious this guy could teach me a lot about a style I really wanted to master, the chord solo/melody strumming technique.

So far I’ve worked up “Signe”, “Black Water”, “Hallelujah”, “Here Comes the Sun”, “Blackbird”, “Friend of the Devil”, ”Ripple”, “Grandfathers Clock” in several variations including my own percussive style. I love Neil’s easy manner and the theory and history behind each song.

The TG site is also providing an excellent framework for introducing my kids the instrument. My 13 year old daughter and 11 year old son are starting to get interested and doing a bit of practicing. Thanks to the site, they will definitely learn better technique than when I started.

As far as gear, pretty straightforward. I play a Martin HD-28V. Fender Strat through a Concert amp with old school Boss effect pedal board setup.

I enjoy many types of music…
alt-country (Ryan Adams, Wilco, Jayhawks)
new bands ( Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack White)
classic rock (Little Feat, Dead, Zeppelin, Neil Young)
outlaw country ( Billy Joe Shaver, Haggard, Jennings, Cash)
singer songwriters
classical symphonic (anything really)
crooners (Sinatra, Tony Bennett)
Celtic/Irish (working through several finger style pieces)

And sometimes I even crank up 80’s pop music to bring back the soundtrack of a misspent youth.

I look forward to getting to know many of you good folks as we work together to improve our playing and understanding of the guitar.

Best regards,
Alan

Hello Alan from Willem Netherlands,,misspent youth! we know it all i think,but not everything,,i think its just get on the bike and bike again and then the rightway,this is such a great site ,with now hundreds of lesson in diffrent styles,,so you want no more misspent any
time,,well ,now its al guitar,,look out to spent also other time but wish you a good and new yourney,,looking forward to your first vid upload in the percusive style,,greetings hope to read and hear from you,,goodluck

Welcome from Switzerland Alan..... have a ball here!

Welcome from Australia Alan. Texas and Oz have at least one thing in common...lots of space! (But your hats are bigger). Nice intro, you will fit in really well with your background, sounds like you have some cool songs to share as well. Enjoy and see you around the forum.

Alan- Big welsome to the program from Portland, Oregon! We're really happy to have you with us!

Yours might be the best introduction we've ever had on this site!! Great job! I feel like I know you already!

You already know how great this site is so I won't belabor the point but don't be a stranger and let us know if we can ever help you with anything. And your performing experience could be really helpful for others who haven't enjoyed the fear, panic and joy of performing in front of others!

Enjoy the site and happy playin'!!

Cheers! :cheer:

G'Day Alan from Texas, its Chas from New Zealand here, you know the little Island that holds up Australia.
Great intro and as has been said similar story to many of us here. You will fit in well with the team. So don't be a stranger to the Forum now you've found us, loads of laughs and loads of knowledge to be found here.

Chas

Hello and welcome, Alan. I am glad you decided to join us here. I hope you will share any tips or tricks that you have with the rest of us. Your opinions and questions are also welcome here.


Bill

Hi Alan,

Great introduction. You've come to the best guitar site, so enjoy all it has to offer.

Bob

from Massachusetts

Hi Alan,

Nice intro, good move to post this. Are you a full-fledged deadhead, or a regular fan? One reason I ask is that in my area (Montreal, Canada) the Dead can be described as "the most famous unknown band", in that although they are notorious as a band, maybe only "truckin" has gotten a little radio broadcast here in the last half-century. I've discovered them for real since seeing Neil's lessons, and been workin' hard on "Ripple" for 2 months now. I thought I'd get it in a week, now looking more like maybe 6 months (upstrokes and downstrokes, u know).

anyway, welcome!
Pierre