How to teach yourself the guitar

I'm totally self-taught on guitar -- so, that approach works.  If you know someone that plays guitar, that'll serve as a good "mentor" for how to hold the guitar, tricks of the trade, etc.  (Although:  I didn't have that [pre-internet].)  ;)


Basically, download a PDF of guitar chords, and then Google for "tabulature" (indvidual notes) and/or chords of some song you like (and know how it's supposed to sound).  And then just keep practising until you can play it smoothly. 

If you're at all of a creative bent -- if you know two or three chords, just strum them in a sequence, with a certain rhythm, and then sing over the top:  that's a song.  :)

If you want to record yourself:  for about $50 you can pick up a used USB recording interface online -- get one that has XLR (Google it) and instrument inputs -- and for another $100 you can pick up an inexpensive but decent mic with a microphone cable.  And now you can record yourself.  Oh:  with freeware software:  Audacity works just fine, and is available for Windows, Macs, and Linux.

It's also more interesting to get together with other people.  But playing along to backing tracks works well, also.

Also:  guitar pedals are fun.  I recommend the guy on the "JHS pedals" YouTube channel -- esp. the "What's the deal with Behringer" episode.  Some people scoff at Behringer -- but they have some good products at very reasonable prices (around AU$50?).  (The JHS Pedals guy's notion is "Price doesn't matter:  if it makes your guitar more fun to play, then it's a good pedal.")   Distortion, and either reverb or delay, are good types of pedal to start with -- but chorus, flangers, phasers, tremelo -- all are fun.  :)   Also "loop" pedals (again, see YouTube) -- esp. if you're solo, and want to play against yourself.


Oh!  Download a guitar tuner app for your phone, then check that your "open" string (for each string) and the octave (12th fret -- the double dots on the side) is the same note (e.g. an "E" and an "E").  If the octave note is a little sharp or flat, you'll have to intonate it (see YouTube).  Similarly, if the distance between the string and the fingerboard (the "action") is too high, then when you press down on the string you'll actually be pulling the note sharp:  you'll need to adjust the bridge height.

For both of these, you can find instructions on YouTube ("How to intonate your guitar", "How to adjust the action on your guitar"), if you're comfortable with tools.  Otherwise, you can pay someone $30-$50 to do it for you. 

There's also the "neck relief" -- the curve of the neck:  ideally as you go down the fretboard, none of the intervening frets (between your finger and the bridge) get in the way and cause "fret buzz".  This is also something that you can adjust yourself -- but this is getting towards the zone where it may be better to have someone do it for you (at the same time as setting the action and intonating your guitar).


Anyhow:  most of the most famous guitarists are there because they play all the time -- not necessarily "practice" -- but they're just always playing, experimenting, having fun:  "face time".

If you practice, you'll get better.  If you don't, you won't.


--GG

The fallacy or myth of wishing that your parents or mom had made you keep doing piano lessons

I occasionally hear someone say "I wish that my parents hadn't let me quit playing piano -- because then I'd know how to play the piano now."

If you break out the components, what the person is really saying is "I wish [person in authority who isn't me] had made me keep doing [task that requires cumulative discipline and effort over many years], because then I'd now have [desirable skill or characteristic]."


You could create other variations of this wish:

-I wish my parents had made me eat healthier food when I was a kid, because now I wouldn't be overweight (or, "less overweight").

-I wish my parents had made me go jogging twice a week, because then I'd have excellent cardiovascular right now.

-I wish my parents had made me lift weights three times a week, because then I'd have a great physique now.

-I wish I hadn't quit taking Spanish in 10th grade, because now I'd be a fluent speaker.

-I wish my parents had made me save and invest $50 a paycheck over the years -- because I'd have a pile of money by now.

-I wish I had taken swimming lessons as a kid -- so I'd know how to swim.  (This one is in a different category.  But the later section of this post is relevant.)


What all of the above overlook is:

-the amount of cumulative effort (drudgery?) that was avoided;

-that there was a reason that you didn't do "the beneficial thing" (i.e. you clearly didn't enjoy it, or didn't want to do it!);

-these laments typically put the responsibility on someone else, not yourself (e.g. "Why did my mom let me quit taking piano?") -- which shifts the responsibility away from yourself.


The rebuttal, of course, is:  Fine.  So:  do it now.  As an adult.



Let's say that you wish that you had stayed with piano until at least the end of high school -- rather than quitting when you were twelve.  Good:  start taking piano lessons again.  As a grownup, you're smarter and (presumably) have greater discipline than when you were a kid:  you'll progress faster in the six years now than you would've during your teen years.

You wish you'd started lifting weights when you were twenty.  You can't go back in time -- so start lifting weights now.

You wish you'd saved more, starting twenty years ago?  Fine:  start saving now -- and twenty years from now you'll be where you wish you were right now.

And etcetera.


Unless there were external forces at work (e.g. your family weren't able to keep paying for your ice skating lessons, so you had to stop), then the reason you stopped [name of lesson or activity] was that you didn't like it!  And, as an adult, you probably do have activities that you enjoy... spend time at... and (because of the time invested) are probably pretty knowledgeable and skilled.  (Bowling?  Golf?  Photography?  Model ship building?)

So:  to say that you wish you had stuck with something that you really didn't enjoy at the time, just so you could have that skill which you probably wouldn't make use of right now, anyhow -- just doesn't make sense.


That is:  let's say that you had stayed with your piano lessons until the end of high school.  Would you really be playing the piano right now, recreationally?  Really?  Honestly???

Probably not -- at least, not very often.


Put differently:  Elton John, Howard Jones, Regina Spektor, and others presumably enjoyed playing the piano -- and that's why they stuck with it.


And, to those that say "I don't have time":  well, that's possibly true -- if you're working two jobs, or working a job plus studying at university.  But if you have any sort of free time (after the kids are in bed -- if indeed you have any kids) -- how you spend your time is a choice:  your choice.

If you spend an hour a night watching t.v., or reading before you go to bed:  that's fine; that's legitimate.  But you could be studying Spanish, or doing a few push-ups, or following along to that yoga DVD, or practicing guitar.  And that's your choice.  And if you'd prefer to read or watch t.v.:  that's a choice as well.

And choices have consequences:  often, pretty easily anticipated ones.

And as a grown-up, you're not allowed to make choices -- and then complain about the (easily-foreseen) consequences of those choices:


Such as:

-Spend your money in ways you know you shouldn't -- and then complain that you're often short of money.

-Never exercise -- and then complain that you don't have the physique that you want.

-Eat all sorts of junk -- and then complain that you're overweight.

-Watch t.v. all evening -- and then complain that you don't possess [name of skill or ability].



No one can do it for you.  You are responsible for you.

And, yeah, that's unfair -- perhaps.  But, it is how it is.

And maybe there are situations outside your control that make it hard -- very hard.  (Maybe you do have to work two jobs...)  But, it's your life -- and you can either complain and be ineffectual -- or buck up and take control of your destiny.


Your airplane has crashed in the middle of the desert.  Do you (a) Sit around and complain about how unfair it is; or (b) Do everything you can to survive?


Your decision; your choice; your life.


And, yes:  I've not been in the situation myself, but I hear that quitting smoking is difficult -- very difficult.

But:  is "It's very difficult" a reason to not do work to achieve what you want?



And:  just so I don't sound like I'm Mister Perfect:  I've only come to this realization about five years ago.  I'm now in training for some very specific personal goals.  I don't work out as often as I want to -- and sometimes I slack off., or get busy  But ever time that I do manage to work out is a "win".

This afternoon I asked my teenage daughter if she wanted to go jogging with me, and my wife said "She hates jogging."  My response was, "I do too."

I don't like exercising.  But I want to be able to do a one-armed chin-up -- and that means that I need to do chin-ups and pull-ups with a weighted backpack, a few times a week, until I achieve my goal.  I've been doing it for a few years -- and I have many more years to go.  (I call it "applied OCD"...)

Whereas if I don't do my exercises, it's guaranteed that I won't achieve my goal.  No one else can do it for me.


--GG

Spreading the craft

A woodworker whose blog I follow said that he set up his woodshop in a storefront to expose passer-bys to traditional woodworking:  they could see his projects in-progress as they passed by, and see him working. 

I like that idea.  When I retire I want to get a booth at the local weekend flea market and just demonstrate handtool woodworking.  Maybe sell a few things -- but mostly just expose people to woodworking.  Let people ask questions, get them interested in the craft.




--GG

Did woodworking demo at school

My sons' class was doing an "old technology" unit in school, and parents were asked to loan various examples of "old technology" to the class.  I brought in a cassette walkman, a CRT computer monitor (which a boy argued with me that it was a t.v.!), a small scorp (see below), a (slightly broken!) marking gauge (below), and a wooden jack plane (see also below).

The teacher appreciated the loan -- but then asked when I could come by to demonstrate the tools.  Ah!  Sure.


I had arranged to do my hand tool woodworking demo this afternoon (Friday) -- because I had to leave work early anyhow, to pick up the boys right after school for a birthday party.  So, that morning I loaded up my gear in the back of our small-ish SUV.  However, when we got to the boys' classroom I saw that the class' schedule for the day (posted in the window) included an afternoon class that I didn't expect to be cancelled just for me.

I tried to find the teacher to clarify the situation, but she wasn't around.  Then, just as the morning bell rang, the vice-principal appeared:  she said that the boys' teacher had phoned in sick, but the substitute teacher would not be arriving for a few hours.  So, the vice-principal would have to cover the class.

I asked if I could just do my woodworking demo in the morning -- as it would take the same amount of time out of my day to get to work late, or leave work early.  The vice-principal was very willing to let me do the demo in the morning:  otherwise, she didn't know what she was going to do with the kids until the substitute got there.


So!


I moved my car, and managed to find a parking space really close to the classroom.  And I explained the situation to two of the parents, who helped me unload my car.  I reckon it took me about 15 minutes to set up.


Here's my pile of gear in the car:

With a little cleverness, I had managed to fit -- under the privacy screen! -- a plastic tub, a wooden tool tote, a milk crate, some pieces of wood, and a small portable workbench...


...plus (behind the orange tub) a bunch of clamps; across the legs of the workbench, two handsaws; and between the legs of the small workbench, two 20kg (44 lb) bags of sand, for ballast.  In the back seat, I had a large plank.

Here's my basic setup, arranged around a dogbone-shaped cement bench just outside the boys' classroom.  I arranged the various props by themes -- discussed in a moment.  Under the workbench, you can see the plank (dangerously?) sticking out -- but it supports the 40kg (88lbs) of ballast that weights the bench down.

I took this photo at the end of my demo - so this shows how I finished.


I started off the session by talking about wood.  I held up a short plank of wood that I had split "from the round" (i.e. from a short log), and talked about wood.

I asked the class where wood comes from.  (Trees!)  Then I asked if trees were pretty much the same now, as it was fifty years ago.  (Yes.)  How about now, compared to one hundred years ago?  (Yes.)  How about five hundred years ago?  (Yes!)

OK, then.  So, there are different types of tools for making things out of wood.  A lot of new types of tools use electricity.  But older types of tools don't use electricity -- because a long time ago people didn't have electricity in their homes.  But the wood doesn't care whether you use old tools or new tools -- because the trees haven't changed -- so the wood hasn't changed -- so the old tools and the new tools both work just fine.  (But, see below.)


I also held up a plastic tool tote, and a wooden tool tote.

I told then that a long time ago, most things were made out of wood, and or metal, because plastic hadn't been invented yet.  The nice thing about making things out of wood is that a person can make things for themselves, or have a friend or family member make it for you.  This tool tote was made by my grandfather, who made a lot of things out of wood, for the family.

But now-a-days, with plastic -- it's very cheap to make (you just get a shape, and squirt the melted plastic into the shape, let it get hard and then pop it out).  But it's usually not as strong -- and also, I think plastic doesn't look as nice as wood.


Here's another example.  If you want corners to be the same exact angle as a square or rectangle, you need a tool like this so you can make sure.  The yellow plastic one is called a "Speed square".  But a long time ago they used to use the "try square".  What is the yellow tool made out of?  (Plastic!)  Right!  And what is the try square made out of?  (Wood!  Metal!)  Yep -- that's right.  And, again -- I think the wooden tool looks better.  But both do the job that you need them to do.

I then talked about working with wood.  I held up one of my short planks and pointed out the fibres, which were pretty obvious because I'd split the plank with wedges, rather than sawing it -- so there were many shredded, trailing bits.  I demonstrated, with a heavy hammer, and a splitting wedge... 

...that splitting off a piece with the grain is pretty fast, and pretty easy.  Whereas trying to split it across the grain (Whack!) doesn't do much except make a dent.

This led to saws.  If you want to make a piece of wood smaller, you could use a saw.  How many of you have seen a saw that looks like this, around your house?  (About a third of the class.)  Well, these saws are fast -- but they are pretty loud-- so you need to protect your hearing with hearing protectors.  And you need to wear safety goggles in case pieces fly at your face.  And these types of saw creates teeny, tiny pieces of sawdust, which you can accidentally breathe in -- so you need to wear a dust mask (whoops!  which I forgot to bring).

But, these types of saw were too expensive for most people, until about the time that your grandparents were little kids.  Before that time, most people used saws like these:

I explained that the zig-zaggy bits are called "teeth", and that the larger the teeth, the faster the cut -- but they also make the end of the wood more messy than the smaller teeth.  I said that the smallest one is called a "backsaw".  (The other two are both filed for rip cutting -- but I didn't go into crosscut versus rip.)

Then I did a little demonstration, by cutting a scrap piece of wood (not shown), and seeing if the saw with the larger teeth really did cut faster.

But, first!  If you're going to make a cut, you have to make a line -- so you know where to cut!  So I showed the class how you use a trysquare (left) and a marking knife (home-made, second from right), or else a marking gauge (either of the two wooden things), to draw a line.  I demonstrated how, with hand-tool woodworking, you often don't actually measure things -- because you're just making cuts relative to other pieces of wood.

So, I made two cut lines, using a marking gauge, and then used the small workbench (really, a large sawbench), and cut the same piece twice -- with the class chanting "one alligator, two alligator...", to time me.  With the medium-toothed saw (far right, earlier photo), it took "16 alligators" to cut through, whereas the larger saw (in the middle, earlier photo) took "10 alligators" -- and that was even with it binding once (which slowed me down).


I then wanted to talk about making holes -- but before I attached the wood to the workbench, I discussed clamps.

I explained that the wooden clamps were a very old style -- especially if they used wooden threads instead of metal (I actually said "this part here", instead of "threads").  The next ones over (I held them up, in turn) are "G-clamps" -- or sometimes "C-clamps", because they look like those letters.   (One kid denied that it looked like a "G" -- and after we went back and forth, I told him that he had no imagination.)

The next clamp (with the red handle) is an "F-clamp" (same reason).  And the final type is a bar clamp, which is the most modern of the four.

Then I used some of the clamps to attach my board to the workbench (with a sacrificial board underneath it -- so I didn't drill into the workbench itself).


And, I talked about drills.  Holding each one up, I showed how the grey drill uses electricity (and is made of plastic!) -- whereas in the old days they might use (from left to right) a gimlet, a bradawl (I mimed its use), a brace and bit, or an "eggbeater" style drill.  I also showed how a power drill might use a spade bit to drill a big hole, whereas in the old days you would use a brace and bit.

And then I drilled a hole (not shown) with the brace and bit.

Somewhat arbitrarily, I then talked about scorps --

-- and how they were used to scoop out things, such as the seats of wooden chairs.  (The vice-principal remarked that she didn't know that.)


And I also talked about hammers and mallets.  I told them that basically, if the hitting part is made out of metal, it's a hammer; if the hitting part is made of wood, or rubber, or plastic, then it's a mallet.  Then I held up each of the below and had them declare whether it was a hammer!  Or a mallet!  (The vice-principal also said that she didn't know that, either!)

Finally, I talked about handplanes.  I didn't go into detail -- but I did say that really old ones are wooden, whereas the ones that came out about a hundred years ago are made of metal.

I then discussed (briefly!) about how a slab of wood is converted into a board.  I clamped some battens (i.e. pieces of wood, used as stops) to the workbench, and using the wooden plane (which I've set up as a scrub plane -- it takes big bites!), I briefly demonstrated flattening the face of a board.

Finally (audience participation!), I switched to the metal plane (a #4 smoother), which I'd set to take a very fine cut -- because they're little kids, so a fine setting would be easier for them to push.  The kids lined up behind the board; I stood on the far side of the workbench (which screwed up my back a little, hunching over) and fell into a pretty stable pattern of:

-(I hold it, to demonstrate) Right hand goes on the back handle, point your finger
-Left hand (slap!) goes onto the round knob
-Your turn!  (hand it to the child; correct the hand position)
-Have them take three swipes, with me pinching the cheeks of the handplane and pulling it forward, to assist
-Have them cup their hands, like they're holding water in their hands; turn the handplane over and dump the shavings into their hand, saying "Look!  You made these!"
-Next kid

The section inside the red rectangle the cumulative smooth-planing of a classroom of little kids -- plus the vice principal, who had never used a handplane before (by this time, the substitute teacher had arrived).  I also showed her the trick of angling the handplane a bit, to get a lower effective cutting angle against the wood.


So!  A blitz of information.  My hope is that at least some of the kids will remember:

-The difference between a hammer and a mallet, and

-That when you use a handplane, you point your finger (most people don't know that).


--GG

Teaching quotes

All of these are from here:  http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html



(Why I sometimes explain a concept in a way that's only 98% correct.  --GG)

"A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation."
         -- H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)


"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."
          -- Henry Kissinger (1923-)


 "Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater."
          -- Gail Godwin


"Hell is a half-filled auditorium."
          -- Robert Frost (1874-1963)


"This isn't right.  This isn't even wrong."
          -- Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958), upon reading a young physicist's paper


--GG

All hopped up

On Monday, I did a guest (university) lecture for my wife's co-worker's class. It went darned well: I had fun, the students seemed interested (and I got several laughs), and I managed to insert to Johnny Mnemonic references and a Monty Python - Holy Grail reference.

I got back to work around noon, and was so hopped up that my supervisor (jokingly?) asked if I was on speed.

Nah. I just enjoy teaching.

I guess I miss teaching. And unlike my wife, I actually enjoy writing lectures (she just puts up with it). Maybe some day I'll go back and do the professor thing.

But - being a govt. guy is good, too. I work less hours than my wife (who is a professor), but for the same pay.


--GG

How to say it

One of the interesting things with being around little kids is the occasional need to explain complex things in understandable ways. It really makes you boil things down to their essence.

Two things from yesterday:

1) At church, the pastor mentioned that a long-time parishoner had died a few days prior. He hadn't been at church for the last seven years, due to dementia (he'd been in a nursing home) -- but prior to that, he was very active in doing things for the church, as well as various community organizations. So, I got to explain "dementia": It's a type of getting sick, where you have a hard time remembering things. After a while, you don't remember your friends' names, or your family's names. And you forget how to do things like tie your shoes or get dressed. So you have to go live at a special type of hospital, where people take care of you.

2) They also had miscellaneous flowers on a table near the front door of the church, where people were encouraged to take a flower to remember this fella. My daughter said that flowers are beautiful, and I wanted to communicate that flowers being pretty had a reproductive purpose: Flowers are bright and shiny because that makes the bees want to come and look at them. When the bees go from flower to flower, they step in part of the seed, and it mixes with parts of the seeds from other flowers. This lets the seeds become "real" seeds that can make new plants when you plant the seeds in the ground. If the bees didn't step on the different flowers and carry the pieces of seed to other flowers, then the seeds wouldn't grow when you put them in the ground.


Breaking things down to their fundamentals: it's an enjoyable challenge. :)


--GG