Free Inquiry Week 7-8

Hello all, I hope everyone enjoyed their reading break! I, myself, took some much-needed time to decompress and I played a lot of guitar. The calluses on my fingers are getting annoying. I did not, however, get to see my guitar teacher for any lessons yet. He was feeling under the weather these last couple of weeks and thought I had better be safe than sorry. In the meantime, he has tasked me with choosing the next song I want to learn after Elizabeth Cotton’s Freight train. Sidenote—I don’t know how I did not notice this before, but if you look carefully at the video I posted of her playing it, you will notice that she is playing the guitar backward or upside down! Meaning the high strings are at the top of the fretboard and the low strings at the bottom! I have not been able to figure out why, but I am seriously impressed. And today, I will play the simplified version of the song for you!

I have chosen to move on to Townes Van Zandt. He has always been a favorite in my house, and I have early memories of my dad keeping rhythm while listening to Pancho and Lefty by slapping his knee. I have decided to try and learn Waiting Around to Die, and I have attached a link to both songs at the bottom of the post.

I feel like I should talk a little bit about my progress and how much I have been practicing. At the start of the semester, I wanted to be able to play a Stan Rogers song by December. I highly doubt that is going to come to fruition for two reasons. One: Stan Rogers songs are incredibly intricate and above my skill level. And two: I have not been practicing enough. Aside from during reading break, I feel like I have not had many opportunities to sit down with the guitar for more than an hour. And the times that I do have a free hour, I often end up sleeping or catching up on some reading. Instead, I end up playing in short 10 to 15-minute increments throughout the day.

On the one hand, I am disappointed in myself, but on the other, I understand my initial goal was not realistic given my workload. I still have improved, and I mustn’t forget that.

Here is a video of me playing Freight Train. I did mess up twice and if you listen closely, you can hear my mother sneeze in the background.

Cheers!