A long time ago, in a land far.....oh wait, different story!
Seriously, I was in Jr. High School. Mom signed me up for lessons after much persuasion (that is, whining and constant nagging. Plus that fact that all I could do is sit in my room and loudly strum non-existent chords...drove her nuts!)
Took lessons from approximately January to June of that year. Mom stopped the lessons saying I could start them up when summer vacation was over. She said she considered it a type of schooling and as it was summer time, no school. Took a long while for me to figure out we just couldn't afford the lessons at that time!! HA! Ignorance is bliss sometimes!
Anyhow, I actually played in a band for a short while. A friend new I could sing a bit, they needed a singer. The lead player actually showed me the chords I had to play for all 20 songs we did. That is, he showed me the finger positions and the neck positions and said ,"for this song you play THIS, for the next song , you play THIS."
I had no clue as to what I was playing! Pretty weird!
Fast forward about 4 years , met a guy that played Jazz guitar. He introduced me to the novel concept of Chord progressions and the scales...who woulda thunk!? The thought that ya start with E , then F, then....and that it REPEATS!!! Oh wow! Was I onto something!
Ok, skip another year. I get into another band after being a roadie for them and telling the lead singer he was screwing up a vocal part in one song. He challenged me to sing it right...I did, suddenly I'm in the band as a rhythm player and vocalist.
I learned a lot from that lead player. Then I found a
Slide rule with all the chord variations , similar to Kirks, but a bit more detailed...and made of long lasting plastic!!! I STILL have the thing!! HA!! (can you say PACK RAT?) Moved onto another band from there, now figuring out things by ear. And the slide rule helped me see where I could play the chords for different voicings.
Drop out of music for about 16 years.
Get back into music and start over. But this time, there is THE INTERNET and CD's with split tracks!! Makes learning
Sooo much easier!
Slowly get back to the point I was when I quit but this time trying to relearn how to read standard notation. Stumble along, making minimal progress. Find the book "Fretboard Logic SE" and realize
WHY I was playing some of the things I could play. Really helped to understand what & why of some things, know what I mean?
Then came across Kirk's material,
Plane Talk. Had several "Ah Ha" moments and whenever I talk with young, learning players or wanna-be's, I just gotta tell them about Kirk and his sites and material.
So, Now I get compliments on my playing, even though I still don't think I'm all that good (I know I have a LOT of learning to do).
But!!! I feel and know I owe a lot of it to Kirk's material and teaching. Period.
Ok, sorry for making a short version way long. Too many cups of coffee this morning.
Gotta go scrap wallpaper trim off the bathroom walls and paint....lots o fun!!
I'm outa here!
