That’s the ticket.
I took a couple days off at the beginning of the week to hang out with my family, it being spring break and my son was out of school. We hit the bookstore on Monday, as we have a bad habit of doing, but this time I had a real motive. Generally, I've got way too many books already, and the bookstore is just a tease... lots of stuff to look at, knowing I shouldn't buy anything because I have a lot to read at home. But this time, I wanted to browse the songbooks.
I'm struggling with learning the guitar. I want to play, but I'm getting bored... I want to play all kinds of styles, but my chord changes come too danged slow, and rhythm guitar solo is kind of dull. I can't play well, let alone sing and play, and you pretty much have to sing to get melody, or you have to be really good at strumming and picking out a melody at the same time.
But part of the problem I've been having is that I'm not playing any music that interests me. I like folk music, but it gets old... sixty songs, three chords. Woo. So having browsed online for simple arrangements of popular acoustic tunes, I wanted to browse the actual music. And I ended up with "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Acoustic Guitar Songs." I like the Dummies and Idiots books in general, but this one was coincidence... it's a beginner book from Alfred Publishing with the Idiots label on it, and Alfred is the exclusive publisher of sheet music for several big artists.
But this book was exactly what I was looking for. Some great songs, some of them with simplified arrangements (Classical Gas, anyone?), and intros to each song with a guide and tips for playing the song (plus background information on the song and artist). Tablature (fingering diagrams for individual notes), because although I know how to read music, it's painfully slow... I have to pencil in all the fingerings until I learn it anyway, so I might as well get a book that lays out the TAB for me. And it had a nice mix of rhythm and fingerstyle songs.
And this finally did it. I can hardly put the guitar down, and I find myself at work looking forward to heading home so I can race past my family and into the basement to play my guitar.
I poked at "Classical Gas" a bit, and I can see that one coming but it's a little complicated. I took a look at "Layla" and put that one on the back shelf... Clapton earned his reputation. Tried a little of "Cats in the Cradle" and I want to learn that one, but it's got a few too many multi-note finger-plucks right now. But it's Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair / Canticle" that's got me hooked. I love their music and it's acoustic guitar feel... and this turns out to be the song that convinced me I can play fingerstyle. The right-hand finger pattern rarely changes, so the right hand can get into a groove while the left manages the mostly simple chord changes.
It's coming along after just a couple days, and if I can get to changing chords smoothly without skipping a beat on the right hand, I'll be ready to sing along in no time. Problem is, it's a duet... one singer sings Scarborough Fair while the other sings Canticle on top of it. That'll be tricky to do solo. :)