On 11/16/05, P. J. Alling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Never underestimate the power of bad tools. A very long time ago I > tried to learn to play the guitar. I was given an inexpensive learning > guitar by the instructor which was included in the cost of the course. > My fingers always hurt and I could barely bend the strings to reach the > fretboard. I gave it up as hopeless, that I just wasn't talented > enough. Years later I picked up a good guitar and was amazed, (though I > still didn't have any talent, but that's besides the point).
Same thing happened to me when I was in my early teens. My folks bought me a used guitar so I could take lessons. The frets were so badly worn that no matter how hard I pressed, I could never get the damned thing to sound good. My fingers hurt, sounded awful, so I gave up after a couple of months. Years later, I got a job in the warehouse of a large music store, where I could fondle Martins, Gibsons and Guilds and the like, and I was amazed at how lovely they could sound with little effort. Like you, however, I never learned how to play, so along with a good guitar, a bit of talent is helpful... -frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
