Getting started

For many years I dreamed of learning to play guitar. I tried about 30 years ago but it didn’t take. Life was particularly busy then (I was a single father with sole custody of 4 kids and held down a full time job, followed by meeting my 2nd wife and putting together a step family of 7) and I had teachers pushing me to do scales and such and my goal wasn’t very specific, just “learn to play guitar”. The busy life is what mainly contributed to me not sticking with it.

Over 10 years ago a good friend of mine picked up the guitar and when I saw the progress he made in a relatively short period of time, I decided to start to learn again. This was in March of 2012. And start over it certainly was, I could not remember any chords, all I remembered from my previous attempt was that you needed to hold your fingers close to the actual fret and for some reason I also remembered that the full F barre chord was better than the easier ones.

I also started with a more specific goal: “Learn songs that people will sing along to around a campfire”. We lived in a small town and had gotten into a circle of friends where live music was a constant, whether it was a birthday celebration or a friendly bbq, invariably one or more people brought out guitars and ukuleles and lots of music happened.

I also found Justin Guitar at the same time and his beginner lessons sure made a difference. I didn’t follow them super closely, but the ones that I remember that made a difference were:

  • Time your practice - so you do an actual 15 (or whatever) minutes of real playing
  • One minute chord changes - I stuck with changing between A E and D
  • The anchor finger using A with the index finger on the G string for chords A E and D
  • His lesson in the key of A for Blowin in the wind

Because his lessons were free and we felt a strong need to support him, I bought a number of his paper back song books and still have them. When I started playing my fingers hurt to where I could only play 5 minutes at a time, so I played 5 minutes 3 times a day to reach my goal of 15 minutes a day. Once I learned to play my first song all the way through, my motivation increased and it wasn’t long before I was playing 30 minutes and much more daily.

The first song I learned to play was Blowin in the Wind and by sticking to my goal it made such a difference keeping me motivated to play compared to my attempt many years earlier. My initial interest was only fingerstyle so when I did the quick chord changes from A to E to D it was while playing each chord fingerstyle.

I didn’t plan to sing and play because the other guitar players I’d spoken to said it was a lot harder to do both. My wife sung Blowin in the Wind with my playing guitar many times. One day, after she’d sung it 50 or 60 times, I accidentally started singing along in the chorus and thought to myself - this isn’t so hard after all. And since that point I’ve been singing to every song I learned.

To celebrate my 10 years of playing, I’ve recorded Blowin in the Wind for you as I do it now, only a slight variation on the original version.

Tony - Blowin in the wind

A friend who saw my progress suggested a local music club on the Gold Coast of Australia which I joined. It made a HUGE difference in my progress. The ethos of the club is very much that everyone gets to have a go, whether an absolute beginner or someone who’s been playing most of their life.

Coast Acoustics

I remember the first time I led a song at one of the club’s jam nights. The song I was playing was Let it be. I started and got about 3 bars into the song before I stuffed it up and had to start all over. Then I made it about 4 bars and stuffed it up again. All I got from the others there was encouragement and patience, and I made it all the way through the song. I learned heaps from those jams. Lots of new songs and also a recognition that when you lead a song in a jam, it’s up to you to own the song and own the temp. Having a dozen or more other players join in means it a cacophony of noise and tempo which was initially a bit daunting for me.

My wife and I loved the music club experience and we’ve made many great friendships there. I got involved in the committee for a number of years and have served stints as the president and secretary of the club. I’d encourage anyone to search out local music clubs and get involved.

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