A.J. Walker

writerer

Return to the Guitar

Yesterday I sat down to think about getting back to playing the guitar. I've two in the house; a lovely green telecaster and a semi-acoustic Takamine. Can't even remember when I last played the electric but from time to time I pick up the Takamine for a quick strum. The thing is I've forgotten so many songs that I used to be able to play and have lost the ability to play most of the riffs I used to know a bit. So I've decided to get a bit more methodical and timetable some specific guitar practice. To learn (or relearn) a bunch of songs I used to play (at least after a fashion).

Ideally I want to get to a point where I can face playing in front of someone again. In fact maybe play at an Open Mic or two. The Sanctuary pub in Liverpool being one possibility. So I need to learn a few songs from start to finish, words and chords, with appropriate strumming patterns and all that malarky.

To that end my initial aim is to learn again twelve songs, which is kinda an album length of tunes. Then from there go on to twenty four and thirty; then who knows?

Should I get into playing again then I'd like to write a few songs once again. It's been a long time since I have done that. Then that opens up the possibility of playing my own stuff at an open mic too. That maybe for next year, but learning the first of the 'twelve' should be a lot easier in theory so who knows I may end up at an open mic sometime over the next two or three months.

I've got four to six I should be able to box off relatively quickly, say over next couple of weeks. Then if I aim to learn a couple of songs a week thereafter then maybe I can box of twelve songs in five weeks or so.

First up I'm going to create a playlist of all 30 songs to practice the words and feel of them. Then I'll print off the words and chord sheets for them all and have a nice neat file (that said I probably have half of them at least already printed out in one file or other). Then, lastly, I need to get my guitar ready and begin playing the thing again. Regularly.

So in five weeks will I have twelve songs I can feel confident enough to stand up (or sit down) and play from start to finish? We'll see.

Watch this space.
blog comments powered by Disqus