Winter here in Collingwood

The third day now of the winter storm has hit Collingwood and part of Georgian Bay. The storm will continue till Wednesday then we should have break from it on Thursday. Once the temperature drops on the lakes it should slow the storms down. We should have a great base for ski trails and the ski hills. Boarder, skiers and cross country skiers will love this sort of snow if the roads ever get clear enough for them to get to the hills and trails. What I love about the snow is it really makes it like Christmas. It gets you in the holiday mood with snow on the ground.

The Finger Style Guitarist

Started back playing finger style guitar, funny how something like that you just don't loss. I guess it was from all the accumulated practicing that I did over the years. My timing and tone was reasonably well, but if I were to practice for a long time, I may start to think I'm pretty crappy at the guitar. It seems that after a time away from the guitar picking it up things don't seem so bad, but give it time and lots of practice, then you find the difficult areas of your playing. I always wonder about guitarist who believes they have nothing to learn. A lot of it Is to much big ego and to little humble pie. How can a guitar player ever improve or move to another level?

The History of my Guitar Playing

Memories bring me back to the time with my first guitar learning it in a downstairs basement of my guitar teacher Mr. Allan. What I can remember as a child was the large f holed guitar he played and taught me with. At the time I had a horrible Sears's guitar with a high action which gave me blisters on my fingers. My teacher tried to convince my father to buy a better quality guitar. Out of his catalogue I saw a nice Gibson Melody Maker which I asked my father for, but I wasn't successful in convincing him for I was only seven or eight years old.

In my teens I took up the bass guitar, seeing that it only had four strings I thought it would be easy, but I was sure fooled. I tried out for a few bands but with my limited knowledge of theory, I wasn't successful as a bass player. At the time I had a 1964 Hofner Beatle Bass, the same instrument as Paul McCartney's. After some years, I sold it and bought a Fender Jazz bass. But all these years of teenage life, I turned back to the guitar once again something that I continuing to learn and progress. I now play acoustic and electric guitars, a Larivee and a Fender Telecaster.

These days I don't play as much as I should, but when I do there is a sense of pleasure that I am sure every musician gets from their instrument. I since my cataract surgery I plan to do a lot more practicing once both eyes are repaired.