So, I’ve got a song picked out—“Bookends”—and a will to learn it. My task the past few nights has been to learn the three chords of the song.
That’s it.
Baby steps, baby.
All I have to do is learn these three chords and I figure I’m halfway to Nashville (or Cleveland if you want to be a little bit Rock n’ Roll).
Each night I get a bit more sure of myself. D minor, my old friend, can be easily changed to C. And by “easily” I mean with a little counting and craning of the neck. F is nearly impossible to play for anyone of normal finger length, but I think I’m faking it pretty well.
I’m there. I’ve got my three chords. I’m ready to sing a moody folk song like nobody’s business.
Except…well…I’m pretty sure this song is a tad more complicated that just the three chords. At some point, and I’m fairly certain of this, Paul Simon uses his other hand in the song.
Time to return to my trusty songbook. Surely therein lies the answer.
Dots on grids. Hmmmm. That probably means something. And what’s this?
Capo fourth fret
What does that mean?
Okay, this is cool. I know my frets (they’re clearly illustrated in my Guitar Chord Bible). I know which is the fourth. All I have to do is figure out what a capo is.
Merriam-Webster Online
capo: the head of a branch of a crime syndicate
Okay, that’s not it.
A general Google of capo leads me to
Cyberfret.com’s compelling explanation.
Oh crap.
How does anyone learn to play the guitar? How did they ever invent the guitar in the first place? Why? Why would they do this?
I think it’s time for me to take a break again.
That’s it.
Baby steps, baby.
All I have to do is learn these three chords and I figure I’m halfway to Nashville (or Cleveland if you want to be a little bit Rock n’ Roll).
Each night I get a bit more sure of myself. D minor, my old friend, can be easily changed to C. And by “easily” I mean with a little counting and craning of the neck. F is nearly impossible to play for anyone of normal finger length, but I think I’m faking it pretty well.
I’m there. I’ve got my three chords. I’m ready to sing a moody folk song like nobody’s business.
Except…well…I’m pretty sure this song is a tad more complicated that just the three chords. At some point, and I’m fairly certain of this, Paul Simon uses his other hand in the song.
Time to return to my trusty songbook. Surely therein lies the answer.
Dots on grids. Hmmmm. That probably means something. And what’s this?
Capo fourth fret
What does that mean?
Okay, this is cool. I know my frets (they’re clearly illustrated in my Guitar Chord Bible). I know which is the fourth. All I have to do is figure out what a capo is.
Merriam-Webster Online
capo: the head of a branch of a crime syndicate
Okay, that’s not it.
A general Google of capo leads me to
Cyberfret.com’s compelling explanation.
Oh crap.
How does anyone learn to play the guitar? How did they ever invent the guitar in the first place? Why? Why would they do this?
I think it’s time for me to take a break again.
When you're ready to pick up the beautiful beast again...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stringsandbeyond.com/whatisacapo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capo
We're making no progress with our recorders :( having problems with finding the time.
Thanks for the sites! “Making time” is a problem that seems to crop up again and again for all sort of things, doesn’t it? I’ve been playing around with my guitar at the end of the day before bed. It’s been great for me because it helps me wind down and shut off some of my head noise before trying to sleep. I can understand where this strategy may not work with the kids. How about trying to just have “music class” one night a week at first? Once you get into that habit, maybe you can break out to two nights!
ReplyDelete:-d