Tenor and Classical Guitars

Playin’ by ear with chords is comin’ along but slowly. Mostly my problem is with timing. I can easily play both the melody and the chords, but I have trouble knowing when to play the chords without having the music in front of me. I did fairly well today though.
 
Boy! Learnin’ new stuff when yer an old geezer is tough. I wonder if I had this much trouble when I was a boy.

I had a good session last night. The chords were falling into place so-so. I‘ve got some lyric sheets now to if they’ll help.
 
I worked on fingerpicking by ear with chords tonight with my baritone uke. It’s tuned the same as my tenor guitar — DGBD.

I’m beginning to learn where and when to use them pretty well, and, of course, it’s not as difficult as I thought it was gonna be. Lately, I find myself playing more and more by ear on some of my other string instruments. Maybe I’ll be able to give up sheet music. That would be great because I just can’t seem to make my fingers do what my eyes tell them to. My memory is not much help any more either.

If I can learn to play by ear as well as I whistle or sing, I‘ll be satisfied.
 
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Played well by ear today — Ol’ Cowboy Tunes — with CHORDS!

I had a really good day today, with both my mandolin and my tenor guitar. I find myself, more and more, playing by ear. I just can’t seem to put my fingers where the written music tells me to. It must be an old guy thing.
 
I picked up the Circle Strings tenor guitar that was on here a couple months ago. I have it tuned D,G,B,E but am getting a little burned out on the tuning as I have other baritones , though in nylon, tuned Chicago

Was thinking on trying octave mandolin tuning G,D,A,E or reg. TG tuning. What steel strings are you using for yours Dick? I know Ry Cooder has a scale guage for TG strings so was thinking on ordering single string guages for both TG and mandolin tuning. Any suggestions?
 
Hi, Patrick, my Kala TG is tuned D G B D, and my Blueridge TG is tuned C G B D for Plectrum guitar tunes. I tuned it once before to G D A E and it sounded horrible. I read somewhere that sometimes that happens, and one has to fix it, but I don’t remember how.

I used D’Addario 42, 30, 20, 12 (11?) singles — I THINK! However, as I said before, they sounded awful. I still have a set of the afore mentioned ones, but I don’t know if I’ll try ‘em again. I’m happy with ‘em the way they are.
 
Had a good session with my Blueridge today. I’m using it to play Plectrum tunes in CGBD. I worked on a Robert Burns’ (Scottish) tune which went pretty well. I even picked up a bit of speed.
 
Good time with my Blueridge today. I played more Burns’ Scottish tunes well enough to enjoy myself. My chord playing is improving, but I’m still a bit clumsy. They slow me down too. But, today, I had a good, enjoyable session.
 
I played my Blueridge TG today, but had my new problem cropped up at first. Lately, I seem to be having problems playing while reading music (tabs). I get very fumble fingered and clumsy. So, after trying different picks and grips), I started playing by ear and — no problem. I played some of my oldies and a few Christmas tunes, by ear, as well as I ever do but without music.

I had the same problems with my mandolin and Baritone Uke the day before yesterday. Hand Eye Coordination? It’s really bothering me. Wassamatter?
 
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Played the Kala TG tuned DGBE, but had trouble with the E. I’m usta DGBD, so I changed back, and all went well. I played the rest by ear, but without many chords. I played well and had a good time, and I guess that’s what matters now.
 
Tried some Christmas music by ear on the Blueridge, but it didn’t go too well. I haven’t played it for a while, and I was a little rusty. The Scottish tunes (with music) went better. Some of it was even enjoyable.
 
Well, I went to Guitar Center and bought a cheap Yamaha GL1 Guitalele. I bought it to see if I could learn to play guitar. I’ve been playin’ all afternoon, and I’m already improving. But, of course. I’ve got nowhere to go but up. I changed it’s tuning to open G, and I’m tryin’ to get usta playin’ DGBD music on a GCEG instrument. I guess I’m just not happy doin’ easy stuff. Well we’ll se how it goes.
 
Well, I’m showing some improvement, but, like everything I do, it’s slow - very slow. I’m playing scales to get usta the fretboard, and I’m working on the accompaniment stuff in the tabs. It took me a while to figger out the tab stuff, but I think I got it now. Fretting PIMA is also is a grind. I‘m usta just fretting however the heck I wanted to. Ahhh, the stuff ya learn when you’re self-taught.

Well, like old-times — Onward and Upward . . .
 
I just ordered a Guitalele (Classicalele) book (Hal Leonard - Classical Guitar), some Manuscript Paper and some Tuner batteries.

I haven’t been playin’ well lately, but I’m gonna continue the attack anyway. Onward and Upwards!
 
Well, I got it together tonight and had a pretty good session with my Classicalele. The strings are still pretty close together, but pickin’ was doable. I can play scales both in A-A and E-E. I worked on accompaniments too. I’m not usta picking in GCEA. I usually strummed it before.

Anyway, all of the above was difficult for me, but I enjoyed it. O&U!
 
Wow! Talk about quick service! I ordered a Hal Leonard Classical Guitar book and some other stuff yesterday and got some of it today.

I’m pretty excited to get started with it, but I’ve got some other stuff to do first. The book looks kinda difficult, but I sorta expected that. However, I have had some music failures in the past, and I don’t want any more. Ahhh, well, we’ll see . . . so, O&U!
 
Awful session with my Tenor Guitar. I couldn’t fret any of the right strings, but it didn’t matter because I wasn’t pickin’ the right ones either. The chords were for some other scales, and I was mostly in the key of H!

Whenever this happens to me (more often then I like), I wonder what’d happen if I was scheduled to do a SHOW!
 
Good session with my Classicalele tonight though a very easy one, but I guess one has start at the beginning. Anyway, at least I understood tonight’s session better than I did the earlier one. There’s a lot of different stuff to look at and follow. It keeps one’s eyes and mind and fingers busy trying to keep track of everything. Juggling a bunch of stuff all at once is not a good activity for an old guy, but I’m taking it slowly with lots of repeats.

I’m at the beginning of the part about playing the melody and the bass parts together. I’ve really been waiting for it. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s session.
 
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