sleepingangel

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the that! Maria

Awe thanks so much. and that was the last nice day as it turns out so I'm really glad I took advantage of it. It's cold and nasty here today but we did manage to take a walk because my husband and I have to lose of the extra holiday weight lol! Have a great new year and thank you again for your kind words! Maria ps God willing Bailey will be 18 this year (in May)

Thank you so much for your message and for the welcome back. I'm happy to be playing again and know that it will take time to get up to snuff as they say. But I do feel as you that the other instruments complement each other. Thank you again for your encouragement and your condolences for my dad. My condolences to you as well! Happy New Year! Maria

I'm so sorry for all of your troubles. I'm happy you are getting back into it as well. I'm sorry for the loss of your dad too and for your wife's scares. Glad she is on the mend. I hope that 2020 is a better year for all of you. Maria

thanks it was so nice!! thanks for watching/listening! Maria

Thanks so much Wim! Yes it's so nice playing in the warmth.....this month is a wee bit different. But at least we have a beautiful tree to look at!!

Oh Thanh you so much for your kind words. I have never felt “good enough” for the guitars my husband has bought me but this one makes me feel like I play better and that makes me so happy. Heck after the hand problems just being able to play good or bad is a blessing !! thank you again Maria

I had some comp time on my birthday at the end of last month and got out of work early and I was so happy it was so nice out. So I got to play my new Martin in the sunshine (my favorite place to play ) and I recorded two songs. This one and an original. I’m still working on getting the original on YouTube. So here is the instrumental: Ecossiase by Mauro Giuliani I hope I did it justice! thanks for watching Maria Ecossiase by Mauro Giuliani

so I am already thrilled and feeling like I can do this finally. WHAT a well produced mini lesson. I started last night. I just went through all the first level paper. You know getting my fingers used to this again. AND I have found that what I thought was never learned or completely forgotten actually is there in my brain and fingers and I'm starting to get muscle memory. TODAY I HAD A snow day ( i don't get paid if I don't teach but they cancelled classes as we have quite a bit of snow here) I literally spent the better part of the day practicing and doing the first complete lesson. I mean I know that i pushed it and I will go back and practice every day BUT I wanted to see if I could keep up. I can tell you that I was able to do everything along with STeve except for the faster speeds with the 3rds. The 3rds are keeping me on my toes BUT i stopped the video several times until i could do it. I know that is my challenge for now. So I won't embark on the rest of it (mastery 2) until as STeve says in the video I have the memorized. THat will be the challenge too as for now I am relying on the tab somewhat...or for the most part is more like it lol!! Thanks again. Great recommendation! Maria

just wanted to let you know that I took your advice and I've bought the two Major Scale Mastery courses you recommended. I just downloaded the pdf's and I'm going to print them and begin!! Thank you (I took advantage of the black Friday discount so that was cool and good timing) Take care Maria

Yes that place is great !! And that’s exactly how I felt the time before when I said no to the temptation. But I guess the time was right this time. take care Maria

Thanks so much. Yes I was all smiles in the Martin Factory and honestly every time I look at and/or play that guitar! Take care Maria

Thank you so much. I'm really blessed. Thanks for the kind words!

From your mouth to God's ears!! Thank you Maria

Awe. Thank you. Glad you liked it!

Thank you so much! Happy THanksgiving!

Hi everyone So my husband took off from work on my day off two weeks ago. He wanted to surprise me with a trip to the Martin Guitar Factory. A little back story. This past March the month before my dad died. My husband and I went to the Martin Factory. I was just beginning to play guitar again. When my husband saw this one hanging on the wall he asked me to play it. He offered to buy it right then and there. I said No. I got all practical on him ..you know (I don't need another guitar yada yada yada) so we didn't get it....fast forward to now. Ever since we didn't buy it I was sorry. I didn't know my dad would die the next month and now I regret that I didn't get to play it for him....so when my husband said "You know Maria if you were like a normal woman and liked jewelry no one would have a problem if I bought you another piece of jewelry but because it's a guitar SOMEONE always has a comment" "WHAT do you need another guitar for?" I'm sure you all have heard that if you own several guitars. So that day I said YES! i loved what he said and I didn't want that moment to pass again. AND as he put it how many people can say that they got a Martin Guitar right from the factory? It was a magical day! Ever since I brought it home I'm playing even more guitar. I told my husband that I feel like I'm playing better with this guitar and he said "I never heard you play like this period." Isn't that crazy? SO here is my new baby...and she smells sooooo good!! Maria ps thanks for letting me share my joy

Thanks so much! I'm so happy to be back and playing guitar again!! Maria

Okay maybe i will get through 17 and then go back to the beginning and then see about your recommendations. Thanks so much Maria

ah Randy nice to see you! thank you so much for your condolences. It's still really tough....Monday is going to be very difficult. I have to go to the closing on the sale of his house. So that will be it. It's been hard having the house empty but this will be hard letting it go too... Take care and thanks for encouragement! Maria

hey there well while that may be true. I have it in my head to plow through the book and maybe when I'm done and after the do the book over (*as i want to refresh everything) I will invest in yet another course! I also have the blues and fingerstyle courses that I've yet to delve too much into. I have a love hate relationship with scales so I need to ease into it...my true love is fingerstyle although I know in my heart that just as the alphabet is the building blocks of English that the scales are the building blocks of music and that it will only benefit me to learn them in whatever style i play!! Maria

hi everyone I have always had a very difficult time learning scales on the guitar whether they be pentatonic or otherwise. I get dyslexic and really can't remember the patterns beyond a day or two or sometimes a moment or two. I know that is part of the reason that i stopped doing this course right in session 17 so how is this going to be different this time around? I need to rely on my ear more and the knowledge that I do have. I have to use my English as a Second Language class for another analogy: Today I had my adult students working in pairs asking each other a simple question. "How do you help at home" now this question was on a paper and on the paper were various answers like "Sweep the floor" "Cook Dinner" etc. So once they practiced for a little while I called them up to the front of the class and had them reenact these conversations. Well it's the funniest thing: when they have the paper in front of them it's like they lose their mind and they are just not able to do it. They constantly are looking at the paper mis pronouncing words or losing their place. So, today I said "Leave your paper on your desk"...they all get nervous BUT you can't believe how much better they do without it. It sounds more authentic like a real conversation should be and they make less mistakes. Because the bottom line is they do know it but they aren't using their minds with the papers they are simply using their reading skills which may or may not be as advanced as their thinking skills. ....does this make any sense? lol so "HOW ON EARTH MARIA" does this apply to music and session 17 in particular. Well every time i have approached learning the scales in the past I have relied so much on trying to memorize the patterns and hitting the right fret etc but not REALLY listening or watching my fingers. So yeah listening that's a big one that I need to practice cause isn't it about the music after all? But the watching my fingers is another story. ******after my long winded preamble here is the TRICK**** : If i can't remember the pattern and which fret to jump to on the next string. well i just find it on the string I'm on and then I locate that by ear on the next string!! it's been working every time. Now I'm not a prisoner to what the patterns LOOK like. I'm using my prior knowledge of skipping half or whole steps on one string and that helps me when i jump to the next string and my EAR tells me that yes the note one fret or two frets away on the first string sounds like or doesn't sound like the one I hit on the target string!!! woo hooo... I'm sure someone else has figured this out but I figured I would share my thoughts!! Take care and please let me know if you find any relevance to my musings!! Maria

sounds really great!! Maria

Really nice Job Mandy!! you have a great voice and style! Maria

wow that is something!! enjoy the ride!