Guitar

So I bought a guitar after writing that email to Joy. On the Friday of that week, I took an early afternoon finish and caught the train into Glasgow city centre. I searched out Merchant City Music whose website I had been looking at and who had been recommended to me. The store is an Aladdins cave of guitars; electric and acoustic, budget through expensive, all hang side by side. The staff, according to the website, are all musicians of varying ability and a love of music. Certainly they were very approachable and helpful guiding me through the purchase of my first guitar.

What impressed me was that they didn't try for the quick buck by trying to sell me an expensive instrument but instead pointed me towards a model which, while sounding good, didn't break the bank. It will pay off in the long run because of course when I want to purchase my first electric or my 12 string (I love the sound of the 12 string) I'll head straight there. I must also say that I loved the amount of patience they had with me while they explained the merits of different gauges of string, etc.

I've had the guitar for over a week now and I've learnt 5 chords! As suspected I haven't had a vast amount of time to practice so progress is slow. However given the pain at the ends of my fingers (on the left hand) I think I must be on my way to being able to practice for longer :) I'm using a book called Guitar for Dummies to teach myself at my own pace. I've always liked the Dummies series of books because of the way they're written with a good balance of humour and a straight forward approach to educating the reader.