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Know what you mean, Zurf. I, too, keep a song book of all the songs I'm learning, plan on learning or can play. My wife and I have a couple of places we go to on weekends that have open mic's so we kinda have to stay on top of them. We have recently went thru our books and just never realized the number of songs we could do. Almost 70 songs that we could do without any problems and another 20 to 30 that were works in progress. Since my wife does all the singing, once we find a song we want to learn, I find the song / chords on Chordie, or elsewhere, learn it per the key of the recording, if needed rewrite some of the words so the song can be sung by a woman, then my wife and I will start to transpose the song into a comfortable key that matches her voice. We try to add 1 or 2 new songs per month to our books. Anyway, not trying to steal your thread, but, I do agree with you about keeping a song book and reviewing it when you have time. Sure is a good way to check on your progress. Also, there is no shame in using a copy of a song while proforming since we are not on a professional level.

Nela

Nela

Set-up began at about 5:30PM. Folks started showing up about 6:00PM. A quick "covered dish" supper followed and the music started @ 7:00PM. Played 'til midnight - wife got to sing 5 songs - rang in the New Year then ate Black-eyed Peas and Cabage. Got home about 2:30AM.

Nela

Welcome. CC. I see that you have discovered that we have some long winded folks here in Chordie. I'm not one of them although I have broke wind a time or 2. But that's another story.

I have a buddy that I play music with that's about as good as anyone I've seen play. Anything he hears he can play - note for note. But he cant tell you what note it is or what chord he might be playing. And some of the chords he makes has some awfull fingerings. Course he plays for hours every day.

Nela

Welcome to Chordie, gwilymflord, and Merry Christmas. Can't offer you any makes / models for you as I do not know what would be available to you in Spain. Keep in mind, though, that along with a good quality A/E guitar comes the need for a good quality acoustic amp. To get the best sound from your A/E guitar you need an  amp. An electric guitar amp will just not produce as well. Then you must decide what "bells and whistles" you want on your amp, such as, channels (1 or 2), chorus, etc. Do the research, set up a value you want to spend for this set-up and try as many as you can prior to your purchase.

Nela

One important item, that I have not seen discussed in this thread, is the way you hold your guitar while learning (playing) barre chords. Are you sitting down or standing up? If you are just beginning to learn barre chords I suggest you practice while sitting. Also, keep the guitar neck tilted upwards and back (little bit) so you can see the fret board. If you practice while standing, get your strap adjusted to where the guitar rests higher across your chest (and keep the guitar neck at an upward angle) Its not very much fun to just form and strum barre chord after barre chord but it is important until you develope some finger strength and muscle memory. After you get the basic patterns down (E shape and the A shape barre chords are the easiest) you can begin to learn some easy 3 chord songs. Start in the key of C as this is an easy progression - C, F and G and only requires mimimal finger movement.

Form an open C chord and strum. (for the F chord you already have your ring finger, 3rd fret 5th string as an anchor - DON"T MOVE IT)

Now form an E shape barre chord with your (middle, ring and pinky) index finger at the 1st fret (DO NOT MOVE YOUR RING FINGER FROM THE OPEN C POSITION YOU WERE JUST STRUMING) This is an F chord and strum.

From the F chord, keep all fingers (middle, ring and pinky) down in the same position and slide up the guitar neck to where your index finger is now on the 3rd fret (middle, ring and pinky are still in the basic E position) - this is a G chord. And strum.

Once you have this 3 chord progression down you are ready to play hundreds of songs - by adding a capo there are now thousands of songs you can play with this 3 chord progression.

Also, keep in mind that while practicing your barre chords to not forget your minor and 7 chords. As an example when playing a E shaped barre chord you can lift your middle finger from the string and you now have a minor chord - if you lift up your pinky you now have a 7 chord.

Try this and see if it helps.

Nela

All songs are keyed to the singers voice (or should be). Keep in mind that if you are playing in a band or just performing solo the person(s) singing control the key. Regardless of what key a song is recorded in you can change the key to fit the singer voice by either transposing the chords or using a capo to bring the song into the proper key for yourself. This may be only a half-step or it can be anywhere your voice takes you. This just takes a little practice but once learned it becomes 2nd nature.

Nela

Keep in mind as you are looking for an acoustic amp that a keyboard amp or going thru a "head" into a monitor will do the same thing if all you are wanting is to just get "sound" from your guitar. Less $$$$, as well.

nela

Most rythem intro's will be either the chords of the 1st verse or the chorus of the song.

nela

Me, I like a high - no back - padded - bar stool. High enough to keep 1 foot on the floor and 1 foot on the 2nd rung as it is easier to rest the guitar on my leg.

Nela

Welcome, Junas. Best advice I can give is to take things nice and slow as you will continue to learn as long as you play a guitar - YEARS!-Do not worry about not being able to play a song until you have learned the ability to form your chords correctly, change betewwn cords cleanly and learned the fingerings for scales. Learn the open chords 1st. - A, C, D, E and G - these chords are all you will ever need to play thousands of songs. Learn the 7 chords - A7, C7, D7, E7 and G7. (B7 is also an easy chord to learn) Learn the minor chords - Am, Bm, Dm, Em (these are easy). Learn the chord progressions - again there are thousands of songs the need only 2 or 3 chords to play. After you have these open chords down you can begin learning some scales - Major Penatonic Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scales will be a good way to start.

Again, take things nice and slow - learn the techinque - remember you gotta crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run.

Nela

Little boy, 4 years old, was sitting in the tub taking a bath when he reached down and grabbed his testicles. As he was sitting there holding them in his hand  he looked up and asked his Momma " are these my brains"?. To which she replied "Not Yet".

Nela