Hello all,

I am a 54 year old woman living in rural France and I subscribed a little more than one week ago.

I've been thinking about learning how to play the guitar for a while, and the defining moment came after watching a video on YT where a couple was enjoying their log cabin, the woman playing the guitar and them both singing. I didn't like the song, but that did it, it gave me the kick to find a guitar and a guitar course. I love to sing, and my aim is to be able to play songs and sing along. I listen to a lot of different music styles, among them rock music, and bluegrass country (discovered a few years ago).

I played a few years of classical Clarinet (stopped because that was not the thing for me and I was just not practising enough so making no progress), and learned Music Theory. That will help a bit.

Would you believe that until a week ago I didn't know there existed two types of acoustic guitar : steel string and nylon string. I confess a strong dislike for the classical nylon string guitar so what a joy to discover the steel string !! At last I understood why I liked the sound of acoustic guitar in American music better.

How did I come to Guitar Tricks ? I first watched a few popular guitar channels on YT, then I saw the 5 introductory lessons from Lisa and I found them very well made, detailed, explanatory. It seemed that the course offered here would be a real course, progressive, with a real teacher and that is what I wanted. I am not disappointed.

A big thank you to Lisa for her lesson on guitar sizes : I am 5ft 1in tall and of course I first bought a second hand dreadnought (a Dia from the 70s, made in Japan in the matsumoku factory). I can play it, but it feels like rinding a bike with 28 inches wheels ! After seeing Lisa's lesson I bougth a Sigma 00 15M and it feels much much better to play it. I also bought an electric guitar for the days with sore fingers : an Epiphone Les Paul Express (apparently the teenagers love it, very playable - I am still waiting for it to be delivered).

Before I started I was really afraid : what if I can't bear the pain on the fingertips, etc. I practice everyday but I am making sure to follow the lessons at my rythm, take the time to build the calluses, I stop when it hurts too much, I don't want to rush it. I was happily surprised by my ability to perform the spiderlegs warm up with the pinkie - I think teaching myself to type with 10 fingers at a young age may be helping. I also feel reassured after reading the testimonies of other women saying how happy they are of their progress in a few monts.

There it is, a fairly long introduction. I am very happy to join this global community of music lovers !