Anyone Can Play Guitar

No, that's not true but I was trying to find a good guitar song title to fit this entry (While My Guitar Gently Weeps?) so I picked Radiohead, from Pablo Honey if anyone is curious. I'm learning to play guitar. I've had one lesson and there are seven more to go and so far I'm finding it enjoyable. There are, however, unexpected aspects to this new hobby.

The first lesson was fun, despite the rather large class size. It took half an hour for every one's guitars to be tuned although that will not happen again now I own a handy pocket sized guitar tuner which can do the job in a minute or so, depending on how obstreperous the G string is being (it likes to pretend it's in tune when it really isn't). And no, that's not meant to be a deliberately suggestive comment. It just so happens the guitar's G string is the one that annoys me. I also own three picks or plectrums to those people who are pedants, made of different materials and varying in hardness or softness. So far I like the purple one (it's in the middle of the three).

Tuning it is actually easy. What the difficult parts are for me:
1. Having to hold down the strings with the tips of your fingers, which becomes painful. My left index finger is already scarred from an accident with a sharp bread knife three years ago. It is not forgiving me at the moment. This also means you cannot have fingernails protruding by any length whatsoever which, for a reformed nail biter, is strange.
2. Not muffling the strings with the palm of your hand while you hold the strings down.
3. Not holding the string onto the fret/holding down the wrong string by accident so you twang the steel strings or make a 'thunk' sound with the nylon strings.
4. Changing the fingering shape to make a new note after holding in position from the original note.
5. Doing this quickly enough to seem competent.

I am assured by fellow guitar players and ex-guitar players that all of these matters are common, except for evil geniuses who have such talents fall into their laps too easily. Overcoming these problems will come with practise and I have been good this week. Half an hour per night. So maybe in a few weeks I'll stop thunking the high E string whenever I try to play a D chord.

I promise I'm not trying to show off my new found guitar knowledge and jargon. I really don't know much yet. I don't know if my fingers will stretch far enough to play a chord that stretches over three frets, for instance. Stay tuned for further updates.