Noob-"ish" member

Hi there.

I've been receiving the GNNews eMails for years, but for some reason I guess I never joined this forum or made much use of this website. What a couple of huge mistakes!

I've been post perusing and lesson looking here for a few weeks now, and what a load of info!

I've recently made a new committment (did I spell that right?) to the guitar to get over the playing plateau I've been on for the last 10 years (basically since the kids were born, I never made time to practice or learn much of anything new).

I first played my sister's nylon string guitar back in the 11th grade (1986 for those of you keeping score at home). The first song I played was the beginning bass line (yes, I even tuned the 6th string down.... :roll: ) from Yes 90125, "City of Love". Not exactly Chris Squires most progressive stuff, but ya gotta start somewhere.

I was hooked! I traded my 10-speed bike for her guitar, learned a few chords (thanks Mel Bay!) but learned most everything else by ear (mostly Rush stuff). Then I traded that guitar in for a Kramer electric, played that through most of college, then traded that in for an Ibanez EX360 in 1989. Had a few gigs (high school home-comings, campus concerts and the like) but nothing terribly serious.

Sometime during college I purchased an Alvarez 12-string acoustic...LOVED it!!

Then after college, both guitars pretty much sat in the closet except for when I played in church every few months or when my brother-in-law borrowed the electric once in a while.

A few years ago I decided to splurge (sort of) and get the Ibanez overhauled by Rob Zwally (those of you in Souteast PA area should find out about this guy if you aren't already familiar with him). About that time I also sold my Alvarez on eBay (for more than I originally paid for it....yeehaww!) and purchased an Oscar Schmidt 12 string acoustic/electric...LOVE how it plays...but I think my Alvarez had better tone.

Nevertheless, my long-term guitar interest never burned beyond a spark, even with all this "new" stuff around me. They still sat in the closet. During the past few years I've accumulated several guitar courses (most of which are advertised here) but never did much of anything with the information.

I'm not sure what recently refueled my desire, but dang it!....I'm gonna learn me some theory and solo skills!

So anyway...here I am. I've actually started practicing everyday! What fun! I guess my biggest hurdle was WHAT to practice. I had so much information on my shelves I was experiencing overload trying to decide what I should start with.

I have no idea why I wrote so much here...I tend to ramble...my wife has trouble with that part of my personality. (don't tell her about this post).

Thanks, you'll be hearing more from me...but hopefully not so much at one time, though.

Dean J.