Article: A Musical and Audiophile Journey

[The Computer Audiophile]

View full article

[Mercman]

The Taylor is a beautiful guitar made locally. 

 

Enjoy!!

[Iving]

Probably it's impossible to be 100% correct about the relative contributions of raw talent, practice and temperament in accounting for progress with a musical instrument. Someone who says it's for sure a particular permutation of these would sound to me like the old-timer attributing his longevity to whusky, women or wild-living. I lol when you said "my attention span as a seven year old was fairly short". Mine still is - and that's why I'm not a rock star!

Congratulations on the Taylor. Looks very, very nice. Guitars are like rock 'n' roll! The best of what is available evolved and is made in the USA (he said with admiration from the UK). I had a Taylor Special Edition of some sort once, and I've owned a Gibson J-180 too. I own a Martin D-42 now.

If you're improving switching between D and A, I guess I got a bit further than you as a child. I wish, wish, wish I had more time for guitar, Maybe next year will expand favourably in this way for me. I know in the end we prioritise what we prioritise. I agree with you totally about the enhancement of musical appreciation that follows familiarity with a musical instrument. Can be just insight into the nature and structure of music. Can be to play along to your favourites.

Wish you well with your playing endeavours.

[firedog]

Cool. It's inspiring to me, as I'm planning on going back to the piano (which I gave up at a young age) when I retire, which isn't far off. 

Let us know how it goes. 

[bbosler]

The songwriter Harlan Howard is credited with defining a great country song as "three chords and the truth."

 

you only have one more to go 😄

 

[ShawnC]

So your first guitar is a Taylor 814ce, where did I go wrong 😉.  Congratulations.  I have to admit that this past year with the pandemic and work, I have not listened to a lot of music.  But I have bought and sold at least 20 guitars (all electric) 5 amps and various pedals.  It's been a sellers dream if you know what people are looking for.  It's starting to slow down as guitar shops are now filling up to pre-pandemic inventory levels. 

 

Good luck with the practicing.  If we ever do that Minnesota meet up some day, I can bring some song books for you to learn.  I think it's too soon for the Pearl Jam, Ten song book, but I have it.  I've had a Stevie Ray Vaughan book for over 30 years and I still can't play a note in it.  I should just stick to buying and selling.  This time of the year is great for learning something new and listening to music as winter rolls in.

 

Rock on, 

Shawn

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, ShawnC said:

So your first guitar is a Taylor 814ce, where did I go wrong 😉.  Congratulations.  I have to admit that this past year with the pandemic and work, I have not listened to a lot of music.  But I have bought and sold at least 20 guitars (all electric) 5 amps and various pedals.  It's been a sellers dream if you know what people are looking for.  It's starting to slow down as guitar shops are now filling up to pre-pandemic inventory levels. 

 

Good luck with the practicing.  If we ever do that Minnesota meet up some day, I can bring some song books for you to learn.  I think it's too soon for the Pearl Jam, Ten song book, but I have it.  I've had a Stevie Ray Vaughan book for over 30 years and I still can't play a note in it.  I should just stick to buying and selling.  This time of the year is great for learning something new and listening to music as winter rolls in.

 

Rock on, 

Shawn

Thanks Shawn!

[AudioDoctor]

If you come to Twin Town Guitars for lessons, we may run into each other...

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, AudioDoctor said:

If you come to Twin Town Guitars for lessons, we may run into each other...

No way! That’s where I’m looking. 

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

No way! That’s where I’m looking. 

 

Yeah, I have a friend who is taking lessons from them and who recommended it to me. He plays in a band with another friend. I have always wanted to play Blues Guitar, so I figured well, the Osmosis method isn't working, so I guess I need to do it for real.

[jcbenten]

Very cool!  I always said I would learn if I was ever able to support manufacturing on a split shift.  Split shifts never happened.  Now with arthritis spreading in the hands, not sure it will.

 

I watch Rick Beato on YouTube and he can do some interesting stuff.  I do not know what others (real musicians) think of him but he focuses on the technical aspects of music.  He also can figure out which note just by the sound.  I think that is astounding.  If nothing else, he recently, like last week, posted a great interview of Sting.  Well worth the time to watch.

[KDinsmore]

Nice! Congratulations.

[rando]

Quote

A few weeks ago I finally decided it was time to learn guitar

 

Ah, that is one surefire way to revisit every hockey injury and the lingering wear and tear after years of mostly sedentary behavior.  

 

Quote

 I thought there was no way my fingers would bend or even survive this experience. I woke up the next day with incredibly sore fingers. In fact, as I type this six days later, the fingertips of my left hand are partially numb and hurt at the same time. 

 

Onwards with passion and gusto overwhelmingly forcing through the pain and maladjusted postures.    

 

No developed thought, no training, no awareness of how much too late it is to address... form.  That all important all informing, ever present "Do it again correctly!!!" which sets apart anyone attempting a musical instrument from those who successfully play without stress or injury.  

 

Quote

It's really a win-win all around. Life is good, now it's time to take the rest of the week off work to learn guitar and celebrate Thanksgiving with family :~)

 

Chris, being the first to laugh can also mean being the first to help.  Your pro musician friend missed a few cues about your past life that might not occur to someone who hasn't personally experienced the violence of hockey. 

 

You are fighting two major issues which need to be addressed intelligently.  Three if we account for skin issues.  First is being a keyboard warrior - carpal tunnel syndrome - with deeply imbedded posture of someone who sits for considerable amounts of time.  Second is you didn't prepare to prepare.  Get out some of that hockey toughness instilled in [cripes what is below peewee] Atom(!) players.  Get a little skating time and coordination (physically spending time with the guitar in your hands without any attempt to play) while you heal up until nearer Christmas (yes I'm serious).  It doesn't seem like much but that weight out in front of you, a 40 something adult, will cumulatively strain every core and neck muscle because....  you didn't prepare them for this unexpected and vigorously attempted new experience. 

 

Get up from your desk or listening chair and move around with the guitar (Not playing it).  When you feel healed up... rest some more and continue grabbing the guitar to reinforce the schema you will ultimately need to build up in order to start working on form.  Learning a few chords is the easy part.  That could easily take a few days and stick with you for the rest of your life.  Pay very close attention to what muscles and tendons hurt severely the more you rest.  Start doing opposing exercises (these are light weight to establish flexibility and... constantly reaffirm their place besides the larger growing muscles) before you cannot feed yourself or struggle with clothes. 

 

If you start seeing signs of arthritis or other concerning worse-with-age issues, move on.  Teach the kid and let that be that.  Try the Sax or something else fingering might be less debilitating to play.  If you really want to pursue this.  I really suspect a good teacher in your active playing years might have told you to try a different instrument.  Knowing how hard on your wrists and tendons that sport is.  

[Rexp]

Cool! You now have an analog reference😜

[Jørgen Skadhauge]

Hi Chris

 

Nice to hear that you finally got your guitar.

Please take care of your body, skin is not the worst. But fingers, wrist and arm could start hurting !

I guess the right teacher will show you the nessesary exercises to do.

 

Jørgen

[Salsero_at]

As someone who started playing guitar and piano as a child and has been doing it since then actively (but only on amateur level) i cannot stress enough how important it is to get a good teacher, especially when you start learning.

Otherwise the possibilty is very high that you develop bad habits which will hinder your progress in the future and will be very hard to "unlearn".

[Foggie]

Just think how better you'll be in...10,000 hrs 😉

[tedwoods]

Congratulations on taking up the guitar! You made the right decision to get an acoustic. By definition you now don't have to worry about a whole bunch of controversial issues, like batteries for example (carbon batteries are de riguer in fuzz boxes...). And yes, it's true: most guitar gearheads are audiophiles without even knowing it, albeit with a slightly different take on the manifestation of the early (or not so early) stages of psychosis.😄

[bobfa]

Chris way cool.  I tried a bit of Guitar in the ‘70s.  I did not have that something that drove me to really work on it.  

 

Now I play a “Mean Stereo!”

 

Strumming with you in the back of my mind!  

 

 

[markebrauer]

Congrats on the Taylor. It looks beautiful and I'll bet it sounds even better. My son has a Martin (D28 I think) and I get to be wowed by its glorious sound occasionally. Last summer we had a week-long family gathering at a lake place. There was  going to be daily music with guitar and another son on mandolin. I wanted to take part so I put together a washtub bass. It was a blast playing music with the boys. But the tub is very limited, I could not even get one full octave out of it. The good news is it convinced me that I needed to buy a guitar-type acoustic-electric bass. It doesn't sound like much unless it's amped, but the acoustic sound is just right for practicing in my apartment. And with a small amp, it is a real bass when playing in the living room at my son's place.

 

Anyway, I have practiced/played almost daily for 3 months now and I'm happy to say I notice improvements every day - small but consistent. Met up with one son last week and was actually able to make some music. So just stick with it - every day - and you'll be great in no time.

 

P.S.  And speaking of great, if you want to be inspired (or maybe discouraged) listen to Tommy Emmanuel Live at the Ryman. The guy is sooooo musical, and not bad at playing guitar. The SQ of the recording brings out the live sound of an acoustic guitar better than most.

[NOMBEDES]

Good Luck Chris......I took up Blues Harmonica and I suck (no pun).    But I did get a new insight into music.  It was so amazing to see how much timing and pace are so important to musical skill. Never say an old dog can't at least try to learn new tricks.

 

 

[fredg_31]

Good, thanks Chris!

[wahoospiff]

On a similar journey - just started electric guitar 2 years ago at age 58. Best advice is get a teacher ASAP. Did the same online videos (which I liked) and thought I was doing the lessons correctly but I was WAY off leading to cramping problems and bad technique etc.. During the pandemic, I continued with my in person teacher over the internet (FaceTime) and continue that way today. It's not perfect but surprisingly effective.

[agladstone]

Nice job on the guitar selection! 
I have been playing guitar for 40 years now and I recently purchased a Limited Builders Edition Taylor 814 myself (June 2021) and it’s become the pride and joy of my guitar collection (an equal to my Fender Custom Shop Aztec Gold reproduction of a 1959 Stratocaster). 
It is actually the first high end Acoustic Guitar that I’ve ever purchased. 
I have historically been focused on Electric Guitars, only having a 30+ year old Acoustic that my parents bought me when I was 10 years old. 
Ever since I purchased the Taylor 814 this summer, I play it about 75% of the time, and rarely break out my Electric Guitars, pedals, and Amps these days. 
It literally plays like a dream (after a really good setup, it did need attention to the neck angle and the bridge and saddle height and string height also needed minor adjustments - you should definitely bring it to a local Taylor certified Guitar shop or Luthier for a custom setup! In my experience, literally all guitars require one after purchasing new from the factory). 
Enjoy !!! 
 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, agladstone said:

Nice job on the guitar selection! 
I have been playing guitar for 40 years now and I recently purchased a Limited Builders Edition Taylor 814 myself (June 2021) and it’s become the pride and joy of my guitar collection (an equal to my Fender Custom Shop Aztec Gold reproduction of a 1959 Stratocaster). 
It is actually the first high end Acoustic Guitar that I’ve ever purchased. 
I have historically been focused on Electric Guitars, only having a 30+ year old Acoustic that my parents bought me when I was 10 years old. 
Ever since I purchased the Taylor 814 this summer, I play it about 75% of the time, and rarely break out my Electric Guitars, pedals, and Amps these days. 
It literally plays like a dream (after a really good setup, it did need attention to the neck angle and the bridge and saddle height and string height also needed minor adjustments - you should definitely bring it to a local Taylor certified Guitar shop or Luthier for a custom setup! In my experience, literally all guitars require one after purchasing new from the factory). 
Enjoy !!! 
 

Fantastic!

 

I will take it in when I setup lessons at Twin Town Guitar here in Minneapolis. 
 

Thanks!