Guitar For Dummies #6

It's approximately a year since I bought a guitar and tried to fix my complete lack of ability in terms of music. It's gone pretty well I feel. I can play a number of tunes pretty well, even if my repertoire is still fairly Oasis-biased there's enough to balance it out now.

I'm delighted I kept on with this and would recommend anyone do so. If I can play a guitar there is hope for us all. There is still a rather large and annoying gap in the form of barre chords that I still haven't bothered with. I got rather defeatist a while ago and thought I probably just couldn't do them. I then recalled that this time last year I could only play two chords, and not that well. I've picked a couple of tunes that feature a single barre chord and I'll work on playing them that way. I can already throw out a B-minor with a minimum of mute or fret buzz (I'd been cheating previously by only playing the highest 4 strings and fretting only the high E, which is actually B/F#m or something...). I thought about lessons but with me about to start a PhD I'm not sure when I would find the time. Besides, I got to here without any.

So even though I won't be headlining anywhere near you, well...ever, I'm declaring this a resounding success one year in with plenty of stuff to try and improve from here. I've quickly learnt I was never going to be some sort of magical finger-wiggling demi-God in the space of a year, it's a gradual process. I'd like to have a proper go on an electric guitar at some stage, with the aim of owning one somewhere down the line. If anyone I know who plays a guitar wants to recommend a tune that I should have a bash at (barre chords or not), then give me a shout.

In other news, tried a bit of singing with it. Stopped quickly, knocked my timing off and I also have a tin ear. Can't have it all though, eh?