Some of y'all know I like to sing. I'm pretty good at singing, but I can't play an instrument. I have a piano, but it's currently in storage in Texas. I live in Germany.

For the longest time, I have regretted never becoming proficient at playing an instrument. When I was very young, I took piano lessons. My mom was a church organist for many years, so it was natural I'd try to learn piano. I was making progress and that was where it was discovered that I have perfect pitch (which isn't as perfect as it used to be, forty years ago). But then we moved, and I quit playing piano.

Next, I tried drums in the 5th grade. I remember I tried them because unlike the other instruments, we had to audition for it. I think it was a decision I made on a whim, though, because I wasn't particularly interested in being a drummer. I passed the audition, but could never figure out how to hold the sticks properly. After a few weeks, the band teacher suggested I try another instrument. My sister had played clarinet and we had one in the house, so I switched to that and was relatively successful. But then I quit band.

For the next eight years, I didn't do any music at all, other than singing to the radio. Then I took a voice class for my general education requirements at college. I was very good at that, and wound up studying voice for several years.

Then I went to Armenia, where I sang all the time and toyed with the idea of learning to play an instrument. I farted around with piano, then I bought a crappy guitar at the Vernisage (weekly flea market). A friend taught me a few chords, but I made little progress. Then I couldn't tune the guitar because a part broke, so I just gave it up...

At one point, I had an electronic keyboard. Actually, I still have it, but it's in storage. I didn't bring it because it's not dual voltage.

Now, we're stuck at home, thanks to the pandemic. I have been watching legendary bass player Leland Sklar on YouTube, as well as a bunch of other awesome musicians I admire. I decided to order a guitar and have spent the past few days taking lessons on the Fender Web site. I've made a bit of progress, although my hands are smaller than I realized. I do a few lessons a day and try to review past ones. I'm not sure how far I'll get, but I'm better than I was on Thursday.

I have a Scottish friend named George that I met on YouTube who plays guitar very well, as well as keyboards. He's been in bands. Lately, we've done a few collaborations. Maybe someday, I will be able to add something with my guitar. This is our most recent collaboration, but we've done a few... It's so much easier for me to sing than play guitar!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p2Psct4z5k&t=6s

I know there are a lot of musical people here, so if any of you have advice for a brand new guitar player, I'll all eyes and ears... I need all the hope and motivation I can get. Hopefully, when this is all over, I'll be a somewhat more skilled person than I was a few months ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2020 04:19AM by knotheadusc.

That’s lovely, Knotty.
:)

Thanks! It’s a treat to collaborate with a real live musician rather than a recording.

You sing beautifully, Knothead.

Thanks, Tom in Paris!

I hope someday, I will also play the guitar with some skill. I did catch myself playing the theme to M*A*S*H on the high E string today. I used to pick out songs on the piano, too. I have a feeling learning to read tabs might be a problem. It's definitely different than what I'm used to.

You have a very beautiful voice. I am a singer song writer but live in Washington State.

Thank you! I love Washington State. So pretty there.

I would love to write songs. Sometimes I do lyrics for parodies. Maybe if I learn guitar well enough, I can write something original.

I kinda love Ray Stevens. I think he's underrated.

Your voices combined beautifully, as did the accompanying guitar. I village scenes you included were also lovely.

Those pictures were taken in January, when we were blissfully unaware of the pandemic. We took my husband’s mom to Alsace, which is a beautiful area of France with lots of wine. My husband and I have been several times. I look forward to visiting again.

This was another recent collaboration I did with the same guy... Dan Fogelberg and Emmylou Harris cover.

https://youtu.be/Ih0zvyNgt-4

Lovely, Knotty! I like your voice.

The music was lovely. The pictures were icing on the cake.
It was calming.
You both are very talented.

Thank you very much for listening! I'm hoping George and I can do some more songs at some point. He's a very busy collaborator!

If you went on the American version of The Voice, Blake Shelton would be pounding his button, with Kelly just a tick behind him.

At least that's how I see it. Or maybe Kelly would beat him...

Believe it or not, I have never seen that show! But thank you for the kind compliment!

A musical relative told me about a pandemic/music Facebook group called "Songs for Social Isolation" where people post videos of themselves performing. So many talented people out there! I'm not a performer, so you won't see me on there. Have fun.

I would suggest you try and find a good guitar teacher that can evaluate what you are doing and help you with specific issues that you have. Lots of local music stores are offering lessons by skype etc. Look into recommendations from local musicians, and when the great Covid Virus passes someday you can take lessons in person.

You can learn a lot watching the canned lesson videos like the Fender series (hyped to death on youtube) , but you can't correct what you don't know how to do. Also a live teacher can connect the dots for you to guide you on your own path.

Good luck, have fun.

Thanks! Like I said, I just started on Thursday.

Will check back in on your youtube channel

Hedning Wrote:
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> I would suggest you try and find a good guitar
> teacher that can evaluate what you are doing and
> help you with specific issues that you have.

Check your email.

Thanks! I got your message.

Wailin' Jennys have a bass player, and your voice certainly fits their style. And you nailed the name. :)

In five years?....

I think the three fingered G and C chords are going to kill me.

Awesome! Love it. Thank you for sharing.

Still making progress with my guitar playing. The numbness is starting to subside a bit. Now it only takes me a second or two to change chords!

I will probably end up taking lessons with a real teacher at some point soon. For now, I'm still having fun with the Fender videos.

My Scottish friend George and I made another video... "One Morning in May", a pretty folk song by Hoagy Carmichael done in the style of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. George learned this for me and he's playing guitar and piano. Just goes to show that making musical friends on YouTube can pay off! I send him a song and if he doesn't know it, he learns it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQry3fBA3Rg

Beautiful.

Thank you. That one was a real pleasure to do. I'm working on another one now that is going to take a lot more time and effort...

If anything, besides learning guitar, I hope to learn more sound engineering and video making skills.

Thought I would offer an update...

I got so excited about learning guitar that I ordered a beautiful Fender Malibu Classic for my birthday, which is Saturday. And my husband, who is also celebrating a birthday soon-- in July-- also expressed an interest in learning, so I bought him a basic black Fender guitar.

Both arrived today, and it was a thrill to get to play my new instrument with its steel strings. It has such a beautiful sound-- different than my classical Ortega guitar with the nylon strings!

My fingers on my left hand are a bit numb, but I am making some progress! I've even caught myself playing along to songs on YouTube.

A very nice guitar.

But enquiring minds want to know: which colour is it?

Tom in Paris

Cosmic turquoise! It’s beautiful!

Matches my eyes. ;)

I saw some of your youtube posts, you have a great voice and very nice sound blended with your friend's playing. Have fun learning the guitar. It sounds like you have a good recording/playback set up. I'm working on trying to sing during my enforced free time, I'm definitely not a natural talent.

I play a Fender Telecaster mostly electric and Taylor and Guild acoustics and have not played a fender acoustic for years, they use to come with fairly high action and fairly heavy string gauge. I looked online and it looks like the Malibu is a good guitar to get started on with light gauge strings and a narrow neck good if you don't have large hands. You can experiment a bit with the strings and try strings like Elixir nano web strings in the next lighter gauge, they might be easier on the fingers while you are getting started.

After a few days of playing the Malibu Classic, I am definitely liking it better than the Ortega classical guitar I bought last month. The action is lower and the size is better for me. It's a bit smaller, but still sounds beautiful. I'm sure I will graduate to an even better guitar at some point, though. It looks like guitar people are always looking for better gear (and here I am using the lingo now!).

I would love to try an electric guitar. What is stopping me is that I live in Germany, but I don't know for how much longer, given the state of the world (hopefully at least another year). And I don't know where we will permanently settle. We're Americans, of course, but we're not sold on going back to the States. Europe suits us... but then there's that pesky issue of citizenship and whether or not we want to be permanent European residents. And Europe uses a different voltage than the USA does. I don't even know if electric guitars are dual voltage, like computers are these days!

I definitely have calluses now, especially on my middle finger. Seems oddly appropriate!

Don't worry, the different voltages only apply to the amplification. The guitar itself is not powered.

Ah!! That's good to know!

I think your Fender Malibu comes with a Fishman Piezo pickup installed under the bridge which lets you plug it into an Amp. The piezo pickups work pretty well for playing live but it's not exactly the true acoustic sound of the guitar, it sounds more electric. The amps all have transformers so the pickups are all seeing the same small DC current, not the line AC current. There are inexpensive practice amps that are switchable from the basic 112 v US to 220 v European line currents. I played one of these a couple of years ago in Sweden. I believe it was a Vox Mini 5. It's a very small amp that sounds almost like various electric guitars, and you can plug in a mike and sing. Also works on batteries if you start a career as a street busker. I always thought these were basically for kids starting out, but I noticed in some videos this year that Brian May from Queen plays one at home in his youtube videos.

It does... and it also has an onboard tuner. I figured out the tuner, but the pickup is still beyond my skill set.

I played both guitars tonight, the Ortega and the new Fender, and the more I play the Fender, the more I love it. But I think it might be because the Ortega needs the strings changed. Maybe tomorrow.

"He ordered Chet's guitar course COD
Makes A&E an' he's workin' on B
Digs C&W&R&B an' an' me an' a chimpanzee
Agree that one day soon he'll be
A celebrity"

To telling where home music study and ambition might accomplish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v8sDd7DSl8

Ray Stevens is way underrated in my opinion. ;)

Musical talent + songwriting creativity + humor

Lovely voice, Knottie. And I applaud your desire to pick up an instrument and learn it!

Thank you!

I’ve been surprised by what I have managed just with the videos. It’s been fun to learn new chords, too... except when they involved a barre. I may never manage to master those!

i like both Carly Simon and James Taylor as artists, but I was never crazy about their recording of "Devoted to You." I like your recording much better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2020 04:37AM by scmd1.

Thank you!

We had fun with that duet. I did a new recording yesterday involving harmonies and video from our trip to Ireland. I played it for my husband and he cried. It was partly because he liked the song and partly because when we were in Ireland, his daughter still wasn’t talking to him and she popped up as a “person he might know” on Facebook.

Not long after that trip, they finally started emailing and then Skyping. This year, just before Corona took hold, he got to visit her in person for the first time in 15 years and meet his son in law and grandchildren.

He said he’s so grateful that now he can share our experiences with her. We have done some great trips.

Have you posted the Irish recording?

Yes... I kind of bungled the harmonies a little. This is a newer version of "Sand and Water" that has harmonies not in the original version. I did all three parts, but I probably should have practiced a bit more before I made the video. I couldn't wait.

Incidentally, I also wrote about this today on my blog. Mormonism kind of ties in with it, making this post marginally on topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr7RWvp7P94&t=42s



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2020 05:53AM by knotheadusc.

Vocal harmonies sound fantastic to me. That's quite a poignant song. Just looked up the original artist.

That track is from Liv On, which was a collaboration of Beth Nielsen Chapman, Amy Sky, and Olivia Newton-John. There's the regular album and a karaoke version. The songs on Liv On are all poignant, with subjects having to do with life, death, and survival. It's really a lovely album.

https://www.amazon.com/Olivia-Newton-John-Beth-Nielsen-Chapman/dp/B01M08LPTN/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=liv+on&qid=1593149541&sr=8-4

Sand and Water has been used in sevrral TV shows. I think the first time I heard it was on ER. The plot of the show was about a woman who has a very premature baby and holds him as he dies. Beth Nielsen Chapman wrote it after her first husband, Ernest Chapman, died of cancer. She later had cancer herself and then remarried. I think her second husband, Bob Sherman, has also had cancer. I seem to remember her posting on Facebook that her husband had to go into the hospital for treatment and she couldn't visit because of COVID-19.

I love Beth Nielsen Chapman's music. She's written a lot of wonderful songs over the years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2020 01:33AM by knotheadusc.

It's a beautiful song. I learned it yesterday, and started thinking about some people who were important to me that have died from Covid-19 disease.

Not Covid related but I was alone in the ICUs with my mother, and my father when they died, and I helped my father in law into bed the night he passed a way in his own house I had a dream about their passing moments last night. Fortunately one of our cats decided to wake me up for breakfast.

Well... I know when BNC wrote “Sand and Water”, she was told it would help a lot of people. So I hope it helped you, even if only through memories of loved ones.

That album is a real tearjerker, but a lot of BNC’s songs are just beautiful. I find her music very healing. I have loved ONJ since childhood, but stopped liking her as much after she did “Physical”. I had not heard of Amy Sky until I heard Liv On.

I used a couple of BNC songs last year, when we lost our beloved beagle, Zane, to cancer. I made a couple of memorial videos. Beth Nielsen Chapman has such a gift for writing songs of comfort. When my husband was downrange in Iraq, I sent him songs from a CD of Catholic hymns she did when she was going through breast cancer. He said it helped him through some very rough times at war.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2020 02:46PM by knotheadusc.

Well... today I made a breakthrough. I was learning an exercise with alternative finger picking bass notes when I realized I could figure out the chords for the Alison Krauss version of “Dreaming My Dreams With You”. Sure enough, I tried it rather successfully, then realized her version is in F#. So I figured out the chords for that and played along with the recording...

Then I moved on to “Let Your Love Flow” by the Bellamy Brothers, which was a lot of fun to play and somewhat easy. Next thing I knew, I was buying more equipment so I can hook up my guitar to the computer and add vocals.

If I start playing “Redneck Girl”, there could be serious trouble. But first, I have to figure out barre chords, which will take a long time.

My husband’s progress is also coming along. He doubled his chords today. COVID-19 is making us more skilled people. My husband is brushing up on his Spanish and German, too.

Like all things Barre chords are easy once you know how.

If you search on you tube there are lots of great videos on how to learn them. Justin Guitar and Marty Music are probably good bets. The secret is how you position your hand and thumb.

To increase your confidence practice just barring the DGBE string with your index finger up and down the fret board.Then work on all six strings.

When you play the 1rst position full F shape chord - try it at the fifth or 7th position first where it's easier to push down against the strings. Lot's of people give up trying to play F and Bb at the first position. Play it higher up the neck and build up your tone and hand strength then try to play at the first position. Have fun.

That is encouraging. I keep trying and wondering how it’s going to happen. I have found a few easy versions, but I would rather do it the right way.

My classical guitar feels nice with its nylon strings. But I also learned “My Sweet Lord” and that was so much fun I had to play on both guitars. I may be getting to the point at which playing becomes a lot of fun!

knotheadusc Wrote:
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> I also learned “My Sweet Lord”
> and that was so much fun...

Sorry--couldn't resist the tease.

I didn't know where else to put this, but I couldn't resist: Ray Stevens' "Quarantined"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtjceaknzHQ

Bwahahahahaaha!

Staying away from church is one of the positives to COVID-19.

Cute song!

"My Sweet Lord" with (Phil and) Ronnie (Mack) Spector's studio echo chamber?

Edit: cf your reference to Carpenters, below. A favorite group of mine, so underappreciated. Karen had a great voice, Richard's arrangements sentimental but simply effective. "Superstar" was such a heartbreaking ballad. "For All We Know" hits me in the solar plexis every single time. Worth a try, Knottie?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2020 10:56PM by caffiend.

I don’t mind if I do try more by the Carpenters. I love their music, too!

I am now about done with the folk path on Fender Play. I'm currently trying to figure out "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas with Travis picking. Oddly enough, that song was presented after "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" by Jim Croce. I couldn't even get past the first couple of bars of the Croce song, because it includes too many chords I can't figure out yet.

Still, I was inspired enough to buy an interface for my computer, so if I ever get good enough that anyone would want to hear me play guitar, I can record myself. I also got the interface because for years, I've been using a Shure 58 dynamic mic for singing and have had to connect it with an xlr to x2u device. They're expensive, awkward, and tend to break easily. With the interface, I can just plug the mic in. There are fewer issues with latency, too.

Anyway, I did an old Carpenters song on my channel, just to try out the new interface. I think it turned out alright. As I become better at using my new high-tech toy, I think it could be even better.

I think the recording quality is better, even if I've sung better songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB2Wfp5fbxo

It sounds good. What DAW/program are you using to process the recordings and mixing?

The problem with the canned online learning stuff is there is no guidance from a teacher to help you past the things that hold you back or to set you in a direction you show good promise for.

Trying to play the actual picking on the recordings for Dust in the Wind or I'll have to Say I love you in a song the short time you have been playing is not realistic. There are lots of basics of playing fingerstyle that really take time for most people. The picking pattern for Dust in the Wind is pretty easy but most people can't do the chord changes and do the picking pattern until they have played a while. The Jim Croce song can be played simply but I assume you have to play three barre chords for a simple arrangement and Croce and Mulheisen play a different picking pattern for each chord (I used to play that at weddings a long time ago.) I'd look for lessons on Travis picking on youtube using open chords and work at picking the lower 3 bass strings with your thumb and the upper three strings with index, middle, and ring, until you can pick any string with thumb or any finger in a rythm a metronome. It's boring but you need to get the basic skills down.

Yeah, I am not in a hurry to learn either song. I just think of the two of them, “Dust in the Wind” is easier. I don’t expect to play either of them well for a long time. But the “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song” seems like a real stretch. I’m surprised they included it.

I used Logic Pro for the video.

ETA: I decided to finish the folk path and start blues. After some time has passed, maybe I'll build a few more skills. Last night, I was having fun playing along with the Eagles on some basic chords. It gave my husband a thrill. :D



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2020 05:58AM by knotheadusc.

You obviously have an excellent ear for "pitch" and harmony, phrasing etc. I suspect you will pick it up pretty quick.
Nice your husband supports your music making, not everyone is as lucky.

My husband is an absolute sweetheart. Sometimes, I just don’t know how I got so lucky. The guitar playing is something fun we can do together. Music study is very new for him, so it’s rewarding for me when I can help him with the basic stuff he doesn’t know. He’s just learning now that there’s more to being musical than singing.

He doesn’t sing at all... only songs he’ll do at karaoke are “Detachable Penis” by King Missile and “Ballad of a Dog Named Stains” by Red Peters. Neither song involves actual singing. ;)

Thank you for brightening my day. Do more!

Thank you! My pleasure!