Do you enjoy the discovery?

[Shea]

Hi everyone! As some of you may know, I just started taking lessons and playing seriously about 4 months ago when I bought my 514c. Yesterday I just started learning the acoustic version of Pinball Wizard and I can't wipe this smile off my face. I fortunately have a great instructer (Wayne Riker) and have learned a lot of different songs. Every once in a while he pulls a song out of his hat of songs and it hits me like this last one has. I love this joy of discovery (for lack of a better term) when I find a song that does this. Has anyone else experienced this, or is it just me? If so, what song or songs was it for you?

Shea

[cpmusic]

One major moment of discovery for me was when I figured out Travis picking. It opened up so many possibilities that it was like going from tunnel vision to a full panoramic view.

Loosely related to this is the guitar figure for Simon & Garfunkel's "Parsely, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme." As a child of the 60s, I naturally wanted to play this, but I could never figure it out, and for some reason it never occurred to me to ask around. (I think I wanted to conquer it myself, or some such nonsense.) Anyway, it was many, many years after learning Travis picking that I woke up one morning thinking about this song. And it hit me like a shock -- "I can do that!" So I sat down with my guitar and a cassette of the song, moved the capo until found the right spot (geez, the 7th fret!) and it pretty much fell into place.

This might not seem like a lot, but to a perpetual intermediate like me, it was a big deal. It was like finding a treasured toy I had lost in childhood, and I still get a little kick out of playing it.

[ASN]

I picked up James Taylor's 3 Volume set, about $75, and just can't get enough. The books are done really well. The song that has me going right now is Up On the Roof.

[JW]

When a man loves a woman by Percy Sledge. While it was years and years ago I still find a way to add a few notes to it. It was a real breakthrough some years ago. JW