I haven't picked up a guitar for over 45 years. I used know a few chords and could play a little Blue Grass. I sucked and never understood the instrument I was playing.

[br]Where do I want to go?[br]I want to understand the technical mechanics of playing as well being able to read sheet music and applying it to the guitar. I have no illusions of becoming a 70 year old Eddie Van Halen. But I figure given time I'll be able to play some blues riffs like BB King. And then just keep learning.....

[br]Where am I at?[br]I used to play an acoustic guitar but now have a Epiphone Les Paul Special[br]I used to be able to play "clean" chords on the acoustic but I'm finding it a little concerning that I'm unable to play a "clean" chords on this new electric. My fingers hit adjacent strings and mute them. (example: I took a "A" chord and ran it up to the 7th fret and my fingers are muting strings on both sides) Hopefully that will resolve over time or I bought the wrong guitar. I hope not.

I'm approaching this with a "Beginner Mind." I'm just going to be open to learning technique and practice patterns without pretending I know anything and simply see where it leads over time.

[br]Where am I at currently?[br]Third day in. My fingers are sore. There is physical practice (fingers on frets) and mental practice. My physical practice is going to be limited by how sensitive my fingers are for awhile. During those "dang my fingers hurt!" down-times I'd like to memorize the notes on the fret board as well as mapping those notes to sheet music so that I can start to get a mental picture of where individual notes land on sheet music. Any suggestions on where to find reference material would be appreciate.[br][br]Other than that? I've got a weird, quirky sense of humor. Irreverent but compassionate. That's me at the moment.