Hi all. My name is Giovanni, too many syllables so most people call me G. Born in London England from Italian parents in 1960. Got my first guitar aged 11, a very nice nylon string guitar that my mother won`t let me take from her house even to this day because she says it reminds her of me, it just sits there in the corner of her living room and I only get to give it a quick play when I visit. I had a course of 12 lessons initially and learned A, D, E, minors and 7s and 1 major scale pattern in G, struggled with C and as for G, B and F; forget it; until I got to 13/14 years old and my fingers were able to reach and strong enough to hit the chords cleanly.At 14 I loved Rock music, guitarists were so cool to me and they obviously got lots of chicks. So I bought a cheap Squire Fender Strat copy and booked another course of 6 lessons. I told my teacher that I didn`t want to learn to read music I just wanted to learn a few licks and riffs to impress girls. ( oh the naivety of youth). This did me for the next couple of years and when I reached 16 disco happened. You had to go to discos to meet girls. What a disaster. I gave the strat away and kept my love for rock and blues as a secret pleasure.
At 26 I felt more confidant about my love for guitar rock and blues and decided to buy a steel string acoustic ovation guitar. Someone showed me jimi Hendrix`s hey joe chord progression and the first few measures of stairway to heaven. These I practiced over the next few years and was able to make them my own. People would ask me if I could play anything else, I have to tell them no. Everybody bored even me. I`d reached a road block. I needed help,tutoring, inspiration to progress.
About a year ago I stumbled across this site and Neil impressed me greatly. I watched a couple of performance videos of his and was filled with awe and admiration. I always wanted to learn hotel California by the eagles and that alone is worth a years subscription fee to me. There is so much on this site I am still learning to master each step/song before moving to the next as my desire overtakes my ability. I`m trying to hold that in check. When I watch the fly on the wall videos I am there with the students understanding where they are at and inspired to progress by them. Wonderful. I empathize with the pain of practice and the wonderful joy of achievement at each step of progression. At the moment I am trying to learn more music theory but struggle to remember what I am learning, must be my age,wish I`d started when I was younger.
My love of rock and blues forced me to buy an electric guitar recently and was amazed at how much easier it was to play this style of music and redoubled my admiration for virtuoso acoustic playing as there is nowhere to hide.
Really glad to share with like minded people. Happy practicing.
Love and peace
G
A bg shout out to you all from London U.K.
Buona sera, Giovanni, and a big welcome from Seattle, USA. I'm not sure why you decided to wait so long before introducing yourself, but I'm glad you finally did. Since you've been lurking for quite some time, I won't need to point out where to find things on the site -- you probably know them better than I do. Just enjoy yourself and come back to the forum often.
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G,
Nice to here from you. Glad that you are enjoying the site'
Dave
Nice to here from you. Glad that you are enjoying the site'
Dave
Hello G,
Enjoyed reading that introduction - I could relate to a lot of what you said, especially the stuff when you were younger. I had a guitar early on that I only knew a few things and then later met a few people who showed me some more stuff. From there it grew until I later met some people who could really play - learned a lot from them. Never learned to read music well and cannot sight-read at all. Played mostly electric and love classic rock and blues. Welcome aboard!
Scott
Enjoyed reading that introduction - I could relate to a lot of what you said, especially the stuff when you were younger. I had a guitar early on that I only knew a few things and then later met a few people who showed me some more stuff. From there it grew until I later met some people who could really play - learned a lot from them. Never learned to read music well and cannot sight-read at all. Played mostly electric and love classic rock and blues. Welcome aboard!
Scott
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Ciao G, happy practising and thanks for the intro.
Chris in Switzerland.
Chris in Switzerland.