Hi folks, my name is Charlie and I'm from Morristown, NJ. After a roughly 50 year hiatus I returned to guitar playing. I played as a young teenager and briefly in my 20's. Never had instruction at the time, used an old 'family' arch top until I bought a horrible hollow body and a Fender Champ. Learned most on my own with the help of a well-off friend who had a Stratocaster.

About 3 years ago I felt the need to make music I could hear other than in my head. (not original, I think I have a permanent ear worm playing the music I like). I was going to try to learn piano but after some inquiry I decided to go back to an old friend.

I bought a Yamaha Dreadnought but after about 2 weeks found it to be too big for me and I didn't like the neck, since one skill I resurrected right away was my love of barre chords. I traded that for a basic Epiphone 'package' with a small amp. That one was an improvement but I was not in love with the sound from both the guitar and the very basic amp. I then traded setup for an Ibanez Artcore which I loved, and bought a Fender Mustang 25. Hooray! I finally had reverb!!! Thanks to the amp's deal, I enrolled in the Fender Play program and stuck with it for about 3 months.

I thought that beautiful guitar would be 'it' for me, but the more I played and listened, I realized that guitar was not capable of the sound I craved. I listened, watched dozens of guitar comparisons and realized when I practice I wanted to hear the sound of a Strat or Tele. I took the Ibanez with me and even though I was scared to death of playing (and messing up) in public with other much better players around, I tried a number of guitars, settling on the Stratocaster line. At that point I discussed a trade with them and after they told me a number I decided I could afford a Player Strat. I did want a Mexican one. I played 4, all but one the same model in 4 different colors. There was a white one there, that they told me had just come in that day. It was the last one I tried, and it had exactly that Strat sound I wanted, more so than the others.

I've been loving it since I got it about a month ago and I do feel like I'm progressing because of it. However, I also know my limitations, and needed some kind of structure. Since I'd done extensive research in the past, I had only 2 choices, Justin or Guitar tricks. After trying lessons in both, I'm now here and excited about finding my niche.

Thanks for reading, I already have a couple of questions that I will post in another thread.