After many, many years thinking about it I finally took the plunge yesterday and bought this...

It's an Alvarez AD80SSB for those who know anything about guitars, although they are not that well known. I have no clue how to play (any instrument) but I'm determined to give it a go and even got some sounds out of it last night that didn't make the dog run into the backyard...oh wait the door was closed she couldn't!

Buying it was interesting too. I first went to the Guitar Center (big US chain) which turned out to be like going to a mass market High St Hi-Fi retailer as the spotty faced "sales" guy was utterly useless, I mean absolutely and utterly pathetic. So, I went outside, surfed the web on my Blackberry, found a local specialist dealer (Naperville Music) and spent around 1.5 hours with a really patient and enthusiastic salesman (and the bugger couldn't half play!!) - now I am the proud owner of this sunburst dreadnought and my fingers are already sore after one nights practice!

This will be fun.

Cheers

Jim

Good for you Jim.
I've tried to learn to play various instruments in the past,
but I don't have the aptitude.
Are you going to have lessons?

Cheers - John

John

As part of the deal I got one free lesson and I will almost certainly have more - I want to get to the point where I can play a decent tune or two and then understand enough about the theory to start to think about experimenting with my own - one step at a time though!

I did make the mistake of wandering into the up-market guitar room - the $24,000 Gibson was something else - unbelievable tone! Not for me though!

Cheers

Jim

PS. I'm so glad I found a good dealer....sound familiar?

Hi Jim

Both my children are learning to play fiddle & chanter (pre bagpipe) at the moment.
From watching their skills develop I'm sure you'll get much more out of your guitar with a good teacher.

A $24000 Gibson; that will be irresistible if instrument upgraditus strikes!

Cheers - John

My daughter places viola in the school orchestra and I have suffered (oops enjoyed) listening to her practice over the years and strangely she gravitates towards Scottish fiddle music - I wonder how that could have happened?

Anyway, lesson 1 will be this week and I'm that will be an eye opener!

Cheers

Jim

Nice one!

I can say that it will come with practice. A top tip is to ensure you are actually concentrating on your practice, rather that just saying 'oh I've done my hour' etc.

Andy c - sightreading grade three piano practice at this time...

Oh, and try getting some lessons from a teacher you like! I have, and its priceless.

Jim
Good for you. I had the whole mid-life crisis thing in the mid90s and ended up with a beautiful Fender StratPlusdeLuxe in electric blue with a rosewood fretboard and a small solid state Fender amp. I had badly fractured my left wrist and thought playing the guitar would help to restrengthen it.
I went off once a week to a group lesson at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. However, I never made the time to put in the necessary practice and consequently my enthusiasm fizzled out. Entirely my own fault. But I kept the instrument and have promised myself that as and when I stop working full time I'll give it another go.
Sounds like you are properly motivated so I am sure that you'll get a huge amount of pleasure from learning to play. The acoustic is such a versatile thing too. That Alvarez looks lovely by the way.

Andy/Chris

I have my first lesson tomorrow evening and I must admit I'm frightened of making an even bigger arse of myself than usual!

These are individual lessons and not too expensive (actually much cheaper than I thought) so we'll see how me and my tutor get on!

Yeah, the Alvarez looks great - it's just a pity it has a mind of it's own apparently! Actually, it is supposed to be pretty high in the playability side of things which is one of the reasons I bought it.

I suppose playing at all the worlds great venues would be better than trying to win big IT contracts - so I'd better stick at it if I want a career change!

Cheers

Jim

Let us know how your lesson goes.

my teacher is brill - he's classically trained but has theory knowledge by the bucket full - and I'm one of the few adults he teaches so my lessons always go over the scheduled time...for some reason i seem to be able to make him laugh???

quote:

I suppose playing at all the worlds great venues would be better than trying to win big IT contracts

Jim
After 30 years of the latter I'd have to agree! Is it me, or has the fun gone out of it now?

Enjoy your lesson and don't worry about looking an arse. Who will know or care? Go for it!

Chris

quote:

I suppose playing at all the worlds great venues would be better than trying to win big IT contracts

Jim
After 30 years of the latter I'd have to agree! Is it me, or has the fun gone out of it now?

It's not you!!.....although the current pursuit I'm on is the most fun I've had in a number of years...

My email address is in my profile...drop me a note and we can figure out if we compete or not!

Cheers

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:
Jim
Good for you. I had the whole mid-life crisis thing in the mid90s

Bloody hell! How long do you think you're going to live!!

He's in IT Sales so it will be a pretty short span!

Jim

quote:

Bloody hell! How long do you think you're going to live!!

Not MY mid90s! THE mid90s! I was then in my mid40s. Now I'm in my late 50s so if this is mid-life I'd be a very lucky bunny!

quote:

drop me a note and we can figure out if we compete or not!

Email en route!

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
...for some reason i seem to be able to make him laugh???

Perhaps you're showing him more than he's showing you, Andy!

Congratulations on the guitar, Jim, you will really enjoy it I'm sure.

I used to play the electric guitar but never had the benefit of a tutor and paid for this with too much impatience for learning the basics.

I don't really get the time these days, but perhaps when work is a little less hectic and the kids grown up I may take it up again. Next time I definitely would take lessons in order to unlearn some of my bad habits!

Mark

Mark

less than 1.5 hours to lesson #1.....gulp!

Cheers

Jim

How was the lesson Jim?

John

Well........I always want to run and now I have to learn to crawl.....I need to be patient and that is not a strong point of mine!

The lesson actually went very well. very simple stuff and a lot of practice to do before the next one next week.

In the meantime, I am on the waiting list to get a transplant for a new - and much longer - left hand so I can actually reach the frets on the neck! At least I now know what a fret is though! Only kidding - I did at least know that much before I went.

The worst part was walking the gauntlet of kids lined up outside the other practice rooms and I was convinced they were all looking at me thinking "who's this old geezer?".

It was great though - a lot of basic stuff fell into place and it's just practice, practice, practice. My tutor said I did good but I bet he says that to all the boys!

Cheers

Jim