Hello, I’m new to the forum. I’m starting over at the beginning after a couple decades or so. I took guitar lessons in high school for about a year, or maybe less. For the most part I was learning pop/rock songs on a classical guitar, since that’s what I had; it was my mother’s. Freshman year in college it was stolen from my dorm room. Fast forward to Christmas and my family got me another used classical, but the magic had faded and I never really did anything with it. I was interested in pursuing other… pursuits.
Some 27 or 28 years later, my then 10-yo daughter asked for an ukulele for Christmas, so I researched and got her one. Afterwards, when my kids were at dance practice in the evenings and I’d run out of junk to watch on Netflix (didn’t take long really), I started playing her uke and rekindled an interest in playing music, along with a dad’s typical and possibly wishful thinking that I could play music with my kids! How cool, how fun! Well since then I’ve bought my 8yo son a Baby Taylor and myself a 717 Builder’s Edition and a mahogany GS Mini. My youngest daughter has a 61-key Yamaha. Now I need a bass player and a drummer!
My son and I are very slowly following Justin Guitar’s lessons, and he’s having a tough time pressing the strings. I think we’ll be cooking with gas once I get him over that hump.
The 717 lives in its case, I need to get a humidifier for it. We keep our home cool and dry (<40% on average). The mini lives out on a stand near a chair with a propped up clipboard holding sheet music. I play a little nearly every morning and most evenings, more when the kids are at dance. I’m using a capo for the first time ever, sure doesn’t leave me much space on the mini. But now when I work on ‘Landslide’ and soon some James Taylor it will sound right.
The 717 sounds absolutely wonderful to me, I wouldn’t change a thing. The design elements and appointments are just understated perfect. It smells intoxicating! I love that it’s not flashy, and I’ve long preferred had-rubbed and satin finishes to gloss. Wood should glow, not glint! With the mini I can sit on the couch and hold in my lap with the neck up by my ear, heck I can even recline with it. It smells like wood glue… but it’s simple, clean, stays in tune, and sounds great too.
I’ve read a little music theory and feel like I’ve peeked into a secret vault without permission. I’ve learned more in a couple months this go round than I ever did in high school. I’ve learned more technique from Justin as well, than from my former instructor. I suppose this says more about me then vs now than anything else. I’m looking forward to this journey and hope to eventually just be really comfortable with the instrument and know my way around the fretboard. Eventually, I’ll try other tunings but for now the capo is enough to blow my mind.
