Randy120

Get well soon. I don't know what I would do without my daily guitar.

@Wim VD A bold choice. Well done!

Nice effort Danny!

I had the same problem. Practice will improve. Listen to BluzCruz.

Ovation Standard Balladeer in glossy black. Mid-depth contour bowl. This has been an excellent guitar and always comes out of the case in tune. I play this one most because it is my full size steel string. Taylor NS24ce a beautiful nylon string in it's second incarnation. I purchased this guitar with a cedar top. I took it to Pat DiBurro a preferred Taylor luthier in the area. He warned me that the small spot that looked like extra glue was in fact delaminating and would get worse. It was covered by warranty. For the price of $39 the guitar came back with a beautiful new Sitka top. It still plays sweet sounds. It has become a summer tradition to play nylon often if not ever day. Taylor GS Mini Mahogany - The sweet instrument I grab when I want to play a "little guitar". ?

@matonanjin Yeah, I have watched several of Marty's lessons recently. He is pretty good.

I put this video on the old forum, but I put it on the new forum because there are new students who will benefit from this kind of information.

Coincidently, I just received an update from Desi Serna as an owner of the Fretboard Theory course. Desi has updated a couple lessons including CAGED. He says specifically: "If you can't play the E and A Barre chords in songs then the CAGED system is too advanced for you".

@K9kaos You are welcome. Congratulations on sticking with the Scales workout. I have been doing the Scales workout, 3 notes on a string, and Pentatonic scales for months now. Just getting the handle on the thirds and 1231 exercises. This little video along with the 6 Positions video I posted elsewhere here have really helped me understand how these patterns work. Now I just need to figure out how to make better music with it all. Think differently! Have fun with it!

@John Wells Yeah, I always enjoy Wood & Steel magazine when it arrives in my mailbox. I wouldn't want a Tele or a Strat with anything other than the standard Maple neck.

A different way of looking at the fretboard.

@V7#5b9 Thanks for the fingering guide. Yeah, I would say there are definitely more ways than one to master the fretboard. Chuck's explanation is very good though. This video made me realize that you can start and finish from different positions. In fact he was doing it slightly different from the way I was doing it, but then I realized he was locking into a particular fret range with each form. After learning the Pentatonic and 3 notes on a string scales it gave me a clear guide to starting and ending differently.

Yes, and paper is highly recyclable. I have been using reusable shopping bags for years. I get irritated when a cashier tries to bag a single item. My standard line is "I don't need a bag".

I have read about Taylor's efforts to increase the available woods for guitars for the last few years. Taylor is working with new sources for Ebony, Maple, and Spruce. We need more executives that think like Bob Taylor. Too many people think it isn't a big deal to cut down forests for profit. Sustainability is a winner for us all. Quality wood is a must have for all the guitar manufacturers.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/ebonyproject?utm_source=email_tg&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=apr18_insider Bob Taylor on efforts to provide quality wood for guitars today and in the future.

You are welcome. Yes, unfortunately I discovered him only a few months before he died. His lessons are very good so I wanted to make sure he had a place on our new forum.

A lesson on position playing by Chuck Loeb. Chuck was a great player and instructor. He has many lesson videos on YouTube which are worth watching.

Hi @Tpettygirl, Welcome to the group. You are learning a very challenging skill. Don't be too hard on yourself. You have a lot to learn. Practice and play often. Have a smile on your face when you put the guitar away for the day, and keep coming back with a positive attitude. You will be a guitar player a year from now, and you will know more than you ever expected when you started the course. It isn't free; it comes with great effort, but the rewards are great. You are your worst critic so don't let doubt stop you. The skills come slowly, and you might not feel like you are making progress. A day will come along where you try something and it just works. The hard stuff becomes easier. Don't be intimidated by new material because that is were the growth comes from. A new sound will come out someday soon, and a knowing smile will come to your face. This has been my experience and it is still happening. The G7 is a tough stretch, but it will come in time. Play like you mean it! If you aren't having fun then you are doing it wrong. Joe Bonamassa - "Mistakes are free"

Steve does not cover the CAGED system in the Learn & Master course, but he does have some videos on it. I don't think you should waste your time on CAGED at this point because you have so much to learn. You can always learn CAGED at a later date for extra credit, but if you think it is some magical system you must know to be your best then you will be disappointed. Desi Serna covers caged in his Fretboard Theory course. I think you have plenty of challenges just trying to complete Steve's course. It is easy to get sidetracked looking for some magical formula that will make you a great guitar player, but there isn't any. There is just knowledge, practice, and playing in the end.

I think I would have my ex cooling off in a jail cell. She has got to pay. I of course would have caught the guitar in the first place. But destroying my guitar is too much.

@NeilES335 The NYXL may not be the ideal choice for an ES 137 especially if you are looking more for a vintage warm sound. But that doesn't mean they are not excellent electric guitar strings. Another thing I forgot to mention is my 2009 Gibson Les Paul Studio still comes out of the case in tune everyday. I need to make a minor adjustment on one or two strings on the worst day. I pulled the guitar out yesterday and again put the tuner away. I am bending and using vibrato everyday on this guitar while I work on soloing so staying in tune is a strong indication of high performance. I have not heard a single incident of string ping since I started using the NYXL strings months ago. I will definitely buy NYXL strings again in the future.

The NYXL strings are still going strong over 6 months of daily use. They look like the standard 10's look after a month. The sound is still good. The guitar is getting dirty, but the strings still have miles to go.