Learning again...

So, I have guitar lessons when I can make it, so not too often, and I only started this year. It's fairly easy for me because he plays something, I play it back. Most the time my fingers do what I want and go where I want and it's rarely too difficult to learn the new patterns, although theory does manage to befuddle me still...

It's only when I teach Katie bass I realise quite how much seasoned guitarists take for granted. The fingers pressure, the vibrato, bending, string skipping is all fairly second nature. Alternate picking a doddle. How could this ever have been difficult?!

So, I decided to learn to play left handed. Only I can't be bothered to restring anything so I'm learning upside down left handed. There is a logic to this of sorts. I am actually left handed myself but in my yoof never realised left handed guitars existed. They didn't in the shops back then, and t'interweb didn't exist to tell me anything either.

In short, I'm learning upside down left handed guitar and holy crap on a stick, learning guitar is difficult!! It's easy to forget that. It's worse because I know what my left and right hand should do, but they just won't! Even the simple stuff is hard...

If you're teaching someone, give it a go, it'll remind you of what we all went through when we started playing. No one just picks up a guitar and can play, all the muscles you don't normally use, the way the fingers twist, it's not natural!

Also if you're learning, I sympathise at last. Stick at it, you'll forget what was difficult, and if you get frustrated someone else can't do the simple stuff, put the guitar upside down and try again... Then relax!!