A month and a half, or more, ago I was going to write a post about how some things were shifting for me. I got started and didn’t get it posted. I kept thinking I’d get back to it and didn’t. And then we had a pandemic. I’m not making light of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. It’s definitely horrible and serious. It’s turned everyone’s world upside down in so many ways. And between Facebook memes and posts, the news and everything else we likely are all inundated with news and updates related to it.
Originally, I was going to share about the shifting of focuses for me and some of the cool new stuff I’m starting to get to do for the day job. And then Covid-19 took John Prine. I admit, I’m not overly familiar with a lot of his work. I hear the tunes that come on Bluesville or Margaritaville and sometimes I stay and listen and sometimes I don’t. However there is one of his songs that I really love to play and sing. That song is ‘Angel From Montgomery’. Recently when I was playing it, I thought how my Uncle Bear would have loved that song.
It’s because of that that I thought I’d go ahead and start off with the music stuff and maybe get this finished and posted. I’m not sure how much is really happening on that front. Of course all the lock downs have put any Blues Jams on hold. I have been added to an interesting group on Facebook the ‘Socially Distant Fest’. That’s been fun and interesting. I do a bit more scrolling past than watching but the few I have watched have been great. And I’m also part of another group call Guitarists. Again, I do more scrolling that watching but it’s a nice way to stay involved.
The therapy for the hand/arm/elbow is on hold as well. I’ve progressed enough and have plenty of exercises that I’m not an emergency case. I am still stretching and strengthening. And I’m up to 20 minutes at a time with a 5 minute break and another 20 minutes when playing guitar. It’s progress and I’ll take what I can get. I’m also looking at some things from a conversation with Gail. She mentioned something about a shorter scale guitar. I have done some research and a bit of minor experimenting and found some merits in the suggestion. I’ve also found I do have a couple of the shorter scale full size guitars so I’ve switched to playing those. I do not have the shortest scale full size guitar, yet. But I am tempted. I learned a lot of interesting stuff about guitar scale lengths and strings that I won’t go into here. I also did some research around guitars for small hands and learned some really cool stuff. As a result I’ve made some adjustments to what I have and play.
Right now the shortest scale length guitars I have are my Gretsch and my Les Paul. I needed to change the strings on the Gretsch because I didn’t like the feel and sound of the ones I had on it so when I did that I put 9’s on it. This, in addition to being a shorter scale length has helped. I’m much more comfortable playing for longer. YAY! The shortest scale full size guitar(s) I can find do come from Fender. The Jaguar and the Mustang are 24 inch scale lengths. And I have been tempted to order one. They are just over a half an inch shorter scale length than the Gretsch and while, as Nick was saying ‘that’s not nothing’ I’m not sure it will make a big enough impact for me to know for sure that’s what’s going to help. So I’m getting a mini Strat. My nephew is awesome. He has offered me his from when he was a wee thing. And my sister was all set to bring it to me and then her travel got cancelled. She was going to ship it to me but I admit, I would be devastated if it got broke in the process. I’m still thrilled at the offer and would love to have the guitar. I just don’t want to risk it getting broke. Which is why I’ve ordered one. It should be here in a day or two. YAY.
And I found a way to keep the aroma from
taking over the refrigerator.
Given some of the difference I’ve had with changing back to the Gretsch for my practice as well as the change in the string gauge, I’m really hopeful and excited to see how things go with the mini guitar. Even with what I’ve done so far I’ve started working on a couple of songs that I like. One blues version of a song that I have been wanting to learn to play and one that I just came across and thought, ‘hmm I wonder’, and I got sucked into it.
I have said, for a while now, that I think you can learn guitar in 15 minutes a day if you play everyday. And I still believe that. Especially when first starting out. You have to build the calluses and the strength and you can do that with 15 minutes a day. At a certain point, if you are not just learning a song or a specific something, the process starts to need and want more time. At least that is the case for me. I’ve found that to really get better and start to feel where the notes I want are and how to get the licks I like takes spending more time with my hands on the guitar making sound. Some would argue whether or not it’s music so we’ll go with sound. That’s why it’s important for me to find a guitar that is comfortable for my hands and that I can play longer for my practice times. I may play a larger full size guitar for a performance, but for practice I need the comfortable as a pair of over-washed baggy jeans, feeling guitar. I’ll let you know how it things work out.
I do have cool stuff happening at the day job and some changes there as well as in my response and attitude towards it all, for the most part anyway. I’ll have to get back to that in another post when I finally figure out how to write without it being super long or expository. It’s all good though and I am one of the fortunate ones that is able to keep their job and work remotely from home during this time. Something I am extremely grateful for. It’s been an interesting experience and transition.
I don’t have a lot of pictures but I have a few of what I worked on during lunch and in the evening during week 2 of all this. I’ll see what else I have to share as well.
Stay safe. Stay home. Stay healthy. Try to find something to make you laugh and smile.