Yay Me!
Guitar lesson was great!
Dad and Diana both looked my guitar over, and absolutely did not make fun of it. Their verdict was that I got plenty of guitar for my money. Actually, what my Dad said was "for $amount_of_money, if you plug it into the PA and it doesn't sound like shit, you done good." And it sounds just fine out of the PA. Dad even commented that the built-in electronics were rather nice, especially for the price. I'm told that the neck needs a little straightening, but it does, in fact, have an adjustable rod. Which I didn't remember to check for, so thank god it does. The only problem the not-so-straightness causes is a mild buzz above the 18th or so fret, so getting it fixed isn't particularly pressing. Dad has an extremely highly recommended luthier that he wants me to go to, as well.
I was afraid Dad'd make fun of the guitar because it was black, too, but he said "ain't nothin' wrong with black." So the new guitar got a complete thumbs up.
Ooooo, and I can actually play that nasty major barre chord rooted on string 5 now! (It's this awful thing where you use your index finger to press down strings 5 and 1, and your ring finger to press down strings 2, 3, and 4... which as you may guess, come between strings 5 and 1. This is not easy for short-fingered people on wide-necked guitars.)
But enough about the new toy.
Last night, I got to try out playing-and-singing in a more stage-like setting. Dad's got a rehersal room in the basement, so I sat on the annoying tall barstool, sang into the mike, and heard myself through the monitor. All in all, it completely failed to throw me, and it was quite natural to sing into the mike and still be able to look over at my fingers when necessary. I learned most of how to properly use a microphone pretty young, so there weren't any surprises. It was mildly annoying to hear every tiny little imperfection in my voice, which in my head I multiply eight billion times. But Dad said I did extremely well, and that my improvement is coming in leaps and bounds. Now if I could just instantly add a hundred or so songs to my personal catalogue...
Yesterday, at "dinner" (a.k.a. stopping at Taco Bell), I managed to burn my tongue (and how I do that on food from a place that doesn't even really cook anything, I don't know). It's still bothering me.
I got to wake up this morning to a phone call like a warm hug. I'm in a good mood today.
Dad and Diana both looked my guitar over, and absolutely did not make fun of it. Their verdict was that I got plenty of guitar for my money. Actually, what my Dad said was "for $amount_of_money, if you plug it into the PA and it doesn't sound like shit, you done good." And it sounds just fine out of the PA. Dad even commented that the built-in electronics were rather nice, especially for the price. I'm told that the neck needs a little straightening, but it does, in fact, have an adjustable rod. Which I didn't remember to check for, so thank god it does. The only problem the not-so-straightness causes is a mild buzz above the 18th or so fret, so getting it fixed isn't particularly pressing. Dad has an extremely highly recommended luthier that he wants me to go to, as well.
I was afraid Dad'd make fun of the guitar because it was black, too, but he said "ain't nothin' wrong with black." So the new guitar got a complete thumbs up.
Ooooo, and I can actually play that nasty major barre chord rooted on string 5 now! (It's this awful thing where you use your index finger to press down strings 5 and 1, and your ring finger to press down strings 2, 3, and 4... which as you may guess, come between strings 5 and 1. This is not easy for short-fingered people on wide-necked guitars.)
But enough about the new toy.
Last night, I got to try out playing-and-singing in a more stage-like setting. Dad's got a rehersal room in the basement, so I sat on the annoying tall barstool, sang into the mike, and heard myself through the monitor. All in all, it completely failed to throw me, and it was quite natural to sing into the mike and still be able to look over at my fingers when necessary. I learned most of how to properly use a microphone pretty young, so there weren't any surprises. It was mildly annoying to hear every tiny little imperfection in my voice, which in my head I multiply eight billion times. But Dad said I did extremely well, and that my improvement is coming in leaps and bounds. Now if I could just instantly add a hundred or so songs to my personal catalogue...
Yesterday, at "dinner" (a.k.a. stopping at Taco Bell), I managed to burn my tongue (and how I do that on food from a place that doesn't even really cook anything, I don't know). It's still bothering me.
I got to wake up this morning to a phone call like a warm hug. I'm in a good mood today.