My stickers? Iz can show you them?

I know it's going to be a very, very long time until I get any proficiency with my guitar. I've got to keep motivated, and find ways to keep practicing and keep things interesting when the practicing doesn't seem to be helping much.

So, I've decided to start collecting guitar stickers and slap 'em on my guitar.

You know, those cool stickers that all guitarists have on their guitar cases? Or the stickers that rockers make and give out as swag? Or the stickers that come with Guitar Hero?

I've got a couple already, that I haven't stuck on my guitar yet. One is from www.keneally.com, that says "Mike Keneally Ripped My Head Off," (and he did, too). The other is not rock-related, but it's irreverant and funny. It's a picture of a cartooninzed nautilius, with the text "Naughtylus: Would you like to see my Chambers?" I got that one from the Gargoyle Humor Magazine.

Though I'd like to save them for my "new" guitar, that I will buy when I am "good," I've decided I can't wait.

I shall try to post pictures of these stickers later in the week.

Practice Notes: I practiced for about 10 minutes toninght. The standard 6 chords, Chord changes in "Take it easy," then a quick set of scales. My fingertips hurt. Not sure if more frequent practices or longer practices will be better to develop calluses. I'm sure both would help.

Rock On!

Pulled out the guitar for a short 7-minute practice, to see what I remembered and how much I've lost/forgotten.

The good news is, I've got a lot of the muscle memory still there. Scales, in particular, were pretty easy.

I remembered nearly all the chords I've learned, though not exactly what they're called. So I can play D minor, but I'd forgotten it was D minor. Same problem with E minor and A minor--I forgot which was which.

My chords sound a lot worse than they did before. Part of this is because my nails are getting long again. Part of this is I've lost a bit of flexibility over the past month. Part of this is I was never terribly good with the chords in the first place, and part of this is my arms are very tired due to an intense Aikido session this morning.

I will need to make the most of my practice sessions, and try to improve, and learn new things. A short practice is all well and good to retain skills, but if the practice is too short, I won't necessarily see improvement during the practice.

My goals over the next couple months will be to get better at the chords I already know, learn some new chords, and pick a song to practice. Ideally, this song will be fun, a bit challenging, and something I can play at an open mike night sometime this year. If anyone has suggestions, let me know.

--The musishian

New Year's Resolutions

Well, I won't have time to pick up the guitar until Thursday at the latest, but I can certainly get back into blogging before then.

I came across some good information on how to make and keep New Year's Resolutions. Highlights from the article:

One resolution is better than many.
Set specific, measurable, realistic goals
Tell lots of people about the goals. Even blog about them. The peer pressure, especially for women, will help you stay on track.
Don't treat setbacks as failures.

So, my resolution for 2008 is to learn how to play guitar. More specifically, I will:

Practice at least twice a week
Blog at least once a week

And, as an over-arching goal, I hope to play a tune at an open mike night and not completely embarrass myself before the end of the year.