I Bought a Geeeetaarrrr!

I've been talking about self teaching myself to play the guitar for a VERY long time now.  I'm finally doing it!...OK, well I'm finally "attempting" to learn to play.

Yesterday, I took my lunch break assuming I'd be gone for hours trying to figure out which guitar to purchase.  I had it in my mind that I was leaving work and coming back with a new guitar...I wasn't shopping around.

So, off I went to Sam Ash Music store on Tyvola.  Holy overwhelming store, Batman!  Thankfully, the acoustic guitar section was in a room off to the side so I didn't have to walk around aimlessly for too long. 

I walked in and once again was overwhelmed with hundreds of guitars hanging from the walls and a small jam session among customers.  What the hell have I gotten myself into, was all I could think.


"Can I help you?" says the salesman?  "Oh, boy...you have no idea how much help I need" I replied.  We talked for a bit about my goals and price range then headed out to search for "the one".


He hands me the first one..."have a seat and see how that feels".  Umm, ok.  I've never held a guitar, so how the hell am I supposed to know what it feels like?  "Feels good" I said...umm, sir...do you not remember that I said I had no idea what I was doing?


Turns out the first one was the most expensive...go figure.  The second one he hands me is the one I was looking at online.  As soon as I sat down with it, I felt comfortable.  No B.S. - I really have no idea what is supposed to feel "right" with a guitar, but this one just felt "comfortable".


"What do you think of the sound?" he asks...so I strum something that is not even a chord and go "sounds like a guitar".  He laughed, and apparently the jam session was listening in as well because they all snickered as well.  Hippies.


After a total of 25 minutes in the shop, I was purchasing a Yamaha FG700S guitar.  I bought a tuner and a service package...and that was it!  I was easily that dude's quickest sale in history.

I couldn't wait to get home and "play"...HA!  Yea, right!  I sat down and read all the stuff I had printed out from the internet - mostly about finger exercises, reading tabs, and playing the basic chords.  


I won't get into details...but I did learn two things:
1.) long fingernails and guitars don't mix...nails are gone now
2.) "Smoke on the Water"  (well the first 18 notes)


Stay "tuned" (ha!) - this is going to be interesting.