![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fingerstumbles
Sep. 4th, 2013 09:29 pmLife seems so busy right now, that by the time I sit down to write, all of the creative things I want to say here seem to dry up. But, onward I must go.
I've developed a really lovely/nasty set of calluses on my left hand from playing guitar. (I've since highlighted them, too, since apparently my henna bled through the gloves I was using last week.) I can stumble through a few songs, tortuously trying to decode strumming patterns for the songs I like and then attempting the great symphonious effort of getting my left fingers and my right forearm moving harmoniously when also navigating in my head where my fingers should go next. In my head, I can picture how it must all go together. Sometimes my body cooperates. Sometimes, like tonight, I'm left feeling more frustrated than satisfied.
I know very little of music theory. In elementary school, I remember valiantly learning to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the recorder, and then there was a teacher who liked to hear me sing while strumming a lap harp, and after that... well, I really *wanted* to learn to play music in middle school and sign up for band, but we didn't have the money for band instrument rentals, and I didn't really have anyone close to me who knew how to play, and so my parents encouraged me to do other things. My sister was on her way to becoming an art teacher, so I chose to mimic her instead, and thrust myself into a sketch pad.
I wish I could find someway to remind the little girl/grown woman inside of me that there is still potential to learn when I am feeling overwhelmed. I know that there is such potential - I've seen improvement in the past few weeks, and I am learning different chords and am working towards more than simple strumming pattern. There are a few places where I feel like I am just... miles away from where I need to be. Mainly:
-My fingers often feel too short. When there's a chord requiring a finger in the second fret and fourth fret, I'm pretty sure I break out into a cold sweat. Maybe this will come, but unless I can figure out a way to dislocate a joint, I think the Bm chord is out of my league for awhile.
-Finger strength/Bar chords. I would give anything, ANYTHING to have regularly mastered the most simple fingering for an F chord. But I am having trouble barring two strings. I don't even understand it. I only feel like I can get it if I press on the neck so hard it feels like the string is going to rip through my finger. And that does not make changing to an F-chord easy. I think this will come, but the slowness of it coming is killing me.
-Chords requiring more pinky effort. Man, my pinky is pissed off tonight.
-Strumming, still. I get very frustrated when I listen to a song over and over, can follow along with the rhythm and figure out how I think it should be played in my head, but then when I sit down with my guitar what comes out is something stunted and tripping and AGHGHGSHAGHAHAHAHAH.
-I feel light years away from finger-picking, which is something I want to be able to tackle eventually.
Still. I am making some progress. I just wish I could plug into the matrix and download all of this information into my brain and not go through this frustrating, head-banging phase where I dinkle around with the same set of songs for what feels like forever and still have the feeling of wanting to cry when I can't produce the sound I want.
I know that I need more practice (~20 minutes a day is not a lot), and I know that I should probably be exploring more of the free tools/lessons that are available. It's just...finding time, and practicing. Guh. At least my MIL gave me a couple of her old instructional books.
Despite all of the above, I do love my guitar and I do love playing it, especially for those rare moments where things sound a wee bit like a song. The road to getting better is not smooth, but it is not impassable. I just need to remember this.
And not pick at all the hennaed calluses. Eep.
♥
I've developed a really lovely/nasty set of calluses on my left hand from playing guitar. (I've since highlighted them, too, since apparently my henna bled through the gloves I was using last week.) I can stumble through a few songs, tortuously trying to decode strumming patterns for the songs I like and then attempting the great symphonious effort of getting my left fingers and my right forearm moving harmoniously when also navigating in my head where my fingers should go next. In my head, I can picture how it must all go together. Sometimes my body cooperates. Sometimes, like tonight, I'm left feeling more frustrated than satisfied.
I know very little of music theory. In elementary school, I remember valiantly learning to play "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the recorder, and then there was a teacher who liked to hear me sing while strumming a lap harp, and after that... well, I really *wanted* to learn to play music in middle school and sign up for band, but we didn't have the money for band instrument rentals, and I didn't really have anyone close to me who knew how to play, and so my parents encouraged me to do other things. My sister was on her way to becoming an art teacher, so I chose to mimic her instead, and thrust myself into a sketch pad.
I wish I could find someway to remind the little girl/grown woman inside of me that there is still potential to learn when I am feeling overwhelmed. I know that there is such potential - I've seen improvement in the past few weeks, and I am learning different chords and am working towards more than simple strumming pattern. There are a few places where I feel like I am just... miles away from where I need to be. Mainly:
-My fingers often feel too short. When there's a chord requiring a finger in the second fret and fourth fret, I'm pretty sure I break out into a cold sweat. Maybe this will come, but unless I can figure out a way to dislocate a joint, I think the Bm chord is out of my league for awhile.
-Finger strength/Bar chords. I would give anything, ANYTHING to have regularly mastered the most simple fingering for an F chord. But I am having trouble barring two strings. I don't even understand it. I only feel like I can get it if I press on the neck so hard it feels like the string is going to rip through my finger. And that does not make changing to an F-chord easy. I think this will come, but the slowness of it coming is killing me.
-Chords requiring more pinky effort. Man, my pinky is pissed off tonight.
-Strumming, still. I get very frustrated when I listen to a song over and over, can follow along with the rhythm and figure out how I think it should be played in my head, but then when I sit down with my guitar what comes out is something stunted and tripping and AGHGHGSHAGHAHAHAHAH.
-I feel light years away from finger-picking, which is something I want to be able to tackle eventually.
Still. I am making some progress. I just wish I could plug into the matrix and download all of this information into my brain and not go through this frustrating, head-banging phase where I dinkle around with the same set of songs for what feels like forever and still have the feeling of wanting to cry when I can't produce the sound I want.
I know that I need more practice (~20 minutes a day is not a lot), and I know that I should probably be exploring more of the free tools/lessons that are available. It's just...finding time, and practicing. Guh. At least my MIL gave me a couple of her old instructional books.
Despite all of the above, I do love my guitar and I do love playing it, especially for those rare moments where things sound a wee bit like a song. The road to getting better is not smooth, but it is not impassable. I just need to remember this.
And not pick at all the hennaed calluses. Eep.
♥
