learn music theory

For some reason, I can’t take classes on music theory. I think it’s anxiety. So I’ve got me a textbook. First couple chapters are basically just reading music, and I keep reading them, going “I know this,” doing the exercises, getting bored and self-deprecating, putting them down, and getting out of practice again. But last night I noticed that chapter 3 is counterpoint! So after a few minutes of beating myself over the head with a treble clef until I don’t have to count lines to find A, I’m back at it. I don’t care if I do half the exercises and drop the book again for months. I’ll actually learn something I haven’t theoretically learned five times already.

I took a basic guitar class over the summer and feel like my grip on the basics is fairly strong. I would like to learn more about composing, for sure, but I don’t know how long it will be before I can. =]

my boy is teaching me to play guitar now! finally someone that makes learning easy and fun. i’ve owned and tried to learn guitar before, but now it just seems to make more sense to me. i’ve gotten the main bluegrass chords down- wooo!

there are so many other things that I need to focus on. Maybe sometime in the future I will start working on this one again.

Nor do I need to anymore, so this goal is GONE.

I have lots of hobbies, and many of them, in the end, lead not only to want to enjoy them (listen to music, reading books, watching movies, etc.) but also to “make” them (play music, write, make some videos, etc.)

So, even if I enjoy music a lot, even if I play the guitar a little bit, what I want now is to learn music theory so I can be able to play any instrument easily and even be able to compose music in an accurate way.

I did it … ok well most of it, I did’nt pass the last test but I aced all others so I’m pretty right? I can this off my list?
right?

As expected, the acoustic guitar I purchased has provided excellent incentive to (try) to play more. For various reasons, I have a narrow window during weeknight evenings that I can play. Thus, I haven’t been able to really use the twenty-something episodes of Guitar Sherpa my Tivo’s downloaded. There are apparently a million jillion Hal Leonard books, and I’m working through the ones the library has. (Biggest problem: the library copies often have missing CDs.)

But there has been progress – I have small callouses forming on the tips of my fingers! And, sometime during the last few weeks, I learned (passable) versions of several simple songs, most recently Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and Pearl Jam’s “I am Mine.”

As pleased as I am with finally getting that opening riff of “I am Mine” down, what’s brought the most accolades from my family has been impromptu renditions of children’s songs. For example, last night I plugged the electric into the amp (something I hadn’t done in >10 years) and did an embellished (_but not too loud) “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with the waaaah of the slowly stretching string. There was much giggling.

Music should never include numbers, or letters, or notes! Lol… wich would make music thery non-existant.

I play the stand up bass (double bass to others… big violin as my guinus parents say) and I’m given alot of tuba parts so I end up transposting alot of my own music so I’m getting pretty good at it!

I tried out some guitars Sunday afternoon. The place was pretty huge, but thankfully the acoustics were in an humidity-controlled room sound-buffered from the rest of the store. Otherwise, I would have been pushed to sensory overload in about ten minutes.

For the first 20 minutes, I had the room to myself as I tried different makes and models I’d previously read about on the Internets. Since it’s been a long time since I’d had lessons, I was relegated to random finger picking and the seven random chords I know.

Soon, other customers came in and were doing Nirvana, Clapton and Zeppelin. As one was strumming the opening to Stairway to Heaven, I kept thinking of that scene from Wayne’s World.