15 August 2009

Answering a pom-pom question...

Well, I'm going to TRY to answer it.

Pom-pom , who is nice enough to visit and leave comments, asked what songs I'm learning on my guitar.

The short answer to this is, not very many! So far I'm doing a lot of practice drills to get my speed and accuracy on playing chords. I'm also doing some finger stretching exercises, practicing some folkstyle picking and some blues strumming, but I'm not actually playing songs. The reason for this is that the songs he suggests to use for practice are songs I don't know, for the most part, or songs I'm not really interested in learning because he likes blues, jazz, rock stuff that isn't interesting to me.

So, how to solve this conundrum? I really just need to take the time to find some other songs. I have a stack of songs, many are Christian songs from the '70's, which I could play if I looked up a few chords I haven't learned yet, or use a capo to get them into my range (because, for me, playing the guitar is all about accompanying myself to sing). These are just things I need to get around to.

I have CD's full of songs I recorded for my mom WAY BACK in the '70's and I could sit and figure out the chords from those so I could play them again, using the new fingerpicking and strumming techniques I'm learning now.

I love music by people like Keith Green, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Selah, Honeytree, Love Song etc. I'm having trouble finding lyrics and chords for some songs I like, but I'm working on it. This is a journey which will take a while. Eventually, I want to be able to pick up a guitar and figure out songs on the spur of the moment, but I know that's a long way down the road.

My son, Jordan, is an excellent guitarist and has sung with a worship band, which has disbanded recently. I'm sure he could teach me a lot, too. But since he lives 12 miles away, I'm using this website to learn what I can. I know Jordan also has DVD's I could borrow.

I hope you'll try the guitar, Pom-Pom, if you're really interested! Life is short. We may as well try some of those things we've been putting off "'til the kids grow up"!

I'm going to put a picture of my son Jordan in the left column of this blog and I'll try to link it to a place where you can listen to him sing. (Don't worry, I won't grill you about whether or not you listened to it! LOL!)

2 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa!
    Thank you for addressing my question! Wow!
    I listened to Jordan's song and I liked it!
    I SHOULD attempt the guitar, I should. I'm REALLY good on the kazoo.
    You need one of the old brown Young Life song books. I wonder if I could find one in one of our many book boxes, closeted away in the basement. The books have a lot of the time period songs you mention with the chords all there - looks easy. When we were first married and on Young Life staff, Bill accompanied our singing with his banjo! The kids didn't mind! Our Brad majored in classical guitar at Colorado State (I think I told you that) and he teaches guitar now. His wife is a violinist, so we're thinking CB and Finn may possess some inherited talent! I can't sing. I used to think I could, but no . . .
    Thank you for a great post and for sharing Jordan's music with me!

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  2. I'm always glad to brag on my son! =0) Have a great day!

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