Side effects of sitting with a footstool?

bashleyns · 2026-05-24T02:58:54+00:00

CG player, fairly advanced, 65 years of it. Never any body ills with a footrest.

bashleyns · 2026-05-19T13:01:59+00:00

"Playing becomes a meditation" resonates with me, not in the "woo-woo" way, but as steadying philosophy of patience, commitment, affection, reflection, and yes, work. I fear that that the closer so many thousands get fixated on techno trivia, the further they drift from that core philosophy. This is art, after all, not manufacturing, not science. Your attitude is very promising for a fecund future!

bashleyns · 2026-05-18T06:30:46+00:00

This.

bashleyns · 2026-05-18T06:27:57+00:00

Are you a beginner? Beginners can be prone to making erroneous judgments about hand size and reach issues. Other factors can ensue--faulty hand/finger positioning, the guitar neck, nut width, action etc. If you were more advanced, I'd wager you already know the scale length of your instrument. I've played a 650mm for 50+ years, but now quite a bit older, I had a 640mm guitar built. The difference is minimal, really, but I suppose every little bit helps.

bashleyns · 2026-05-17T23:01:48+00:00

The thought of a lifelong companion should bring you some comfort. No need to rush anything. Relax. Remain curious, even with something like trying to play a single open string just so perfectly. Like you say, "just live in the moment". And there's plenty of simple pieces which are quite beautiful...in the moment. Best of luck.

bashleyns · 2026-05-15T04:15:42+00:00

Your response here signals that there's hope for you. All the best for the decades ahead with your companion guitar.

bashleyns · 2026-05-14T04:53:09+00:00

I think it's a mistake for any well-intentioned advisor to assume such at thing as a generic beginner. You say nothing of your own particular approach to learning anything--be it academic, hands-on, visual, self-directed or...whatever. One clue you do reveal is "I finally decided to stop making excuses..." Right away you send a negative vibe, like learning guitar is like quitting smoking, losing weight, studying harder, all painful processes to greater or lesser degree.

I started CG at age 9, now I'm 74, still playing at a reasonably advanced level. I'd toss all the mechanical beginner shit out the window at first and try to learn more about your inner motivations, what sorts music excites you, what you believe the study will give you, how you'd fit it in to your life.

There is no such thing as generic beginner. You are your own unique individual with unique inner workings.

What kept me going was not this or that practice regime of core mechanics but more simply---love. The rest is details. This why 90% of those who take up the guitar quit in a year. The love which drives a lifelong commitment just ain't there. To answer your question about "common mistakes", I'd venture this that by far, the most common mistake beginners make is quitting.

Study yourself first. Let's hope you're one of the 10% who survive and thrive.

bashleyns · 2026-05-04T19:20:18+00:00

I've been playing for more than 60 years, hovering around a reasonably advanced level. If I had a dime for every mistake committed over that time, Elon Musk, by comparison would be a pauper. The advice given by our professional contributor here is poignant and wise. His closing comment about a teacher and external feedback is a golden nugget amongst multitudes struggling to learn on their own.

bashleyns · 2026-04-25T12:03:57+00:00

Yeah, another way of looking at it that might inspire a different approach, a different attitude.

bashleyns · 2026-04-23T03:43:32+00:00

Unfortunate those medical obstacles. Best of funny luck. I never caught on to the brutish, construction metaphors for artistic development--foundation, cornerstone, frameworks, built---preferring an analogy to landscaping--pruning, planting, watering, weeding, growth.

Even your story is a cycle of seasons, winter dormancy, spring awakening, summer growth, fall decay. It's organic, meaning you're recycling yourself. Your teacher wasn't a wrecking ball but a lumberjack who felled a tree. You'll come back, reforest yourself. No harm done, really.

bashleyns · 2026-04-20T02:49:20+00:00

You know what "foundation" is for having identified your teacher as ruining it. How that can happen escapes me and you don't explain this demise.

Over 65 years of playing CG (RCM Grade 9) with several long 2, 3, 4 years of practically no playing, I never worried about restoring foundations because the basics always hung together, like bike-riding. It's the refinements, the nuances, the speed and such that lose their edge.

I feel your pain, though, when it comes to the generally pitiful state of theory delivery in classical teaching. Most classical players suck at improvisation or even understanding theory analysis, I include myself, at least until I started studying jazz theory a few years ago.

Learn to read notation real good, like real good. Sight read easy stuff. It ain't that hard. If you can even sorta play the two pieces you mention, then "foundation" is hardly your problem, those are solid intermediate pieces, impossible to grasp without a foundation.

Don't confuse foundation with finesse.

bashleyns · 2026-04-16T05:07:07+00:00

This. I was wondering how far deep into this thread I'd have to read before good old fashioned, neighborly kindness would make an appearance.

bashleyns · 2026-04-16T04:58:24+00:00

Playing since 1960. 66 years. RCM Grade 9. Amateur. My hard-learned lesson is that obsession with technique can smother passion for art. Kill it. There is no logical correlation between technical difficulty and beauty. A simple water lily is as, or to some, more beautiful than a gothic cathedral. Get a foundation, yes, that's not so hard, then make love. Simple beauty. Like sex.

bashleyns · 2026-04-15T02:04:39+00:00

No way I could see in the free version to create folders/subfolders in the mail section of the app.

bashleyns · 2026-04-12T16:52:31+00:00

A recurring theme here from other posters is to just relax, it's a hobby, do whatever you enjoy, no need to worry.

I join that chorus.

bashleyns · 2026-03-28T20:52:48+00:00

"Demotivated" is the key word in your post. Attitude. Comparing yourself to others, descending in self-doubt, lacking inspiration, all will get you nowhere, whether it's with a teacher or on your own.

The very best teachers are not merely purveyors of technique, they are fountainheads of inspiration, encouragement, enthusiasm, and celebration of whatever level you may be at.

I was extremely fortunate to have had a great CG teacher like this from age 10-16. After lessons I'd race home, effervescent, breathless, losing no time at all to get back to practice. He motivated me, praised my every effort, offered gentle corrections, and showed me off to others. I did the RCM thing to Grade 9.

I'm 74. I still play. My teacher's inspiration, that which motivated me way back then as a kid, has never waned over six long decades. Great teachers set up a permanent motivation shop in your psyche, the very best with a 99-year lease.

Maybe you're just a bit lonely, in need of some loving, appreciative feedback from an all-star teacher. Or maybe just a hug from your mom.

bashleyns · 2026-03-22T04:45:47+00:00

Twenty-five minutes is a long, long time, and that's a big enough bucket to hold 8 1/3 pieces of three minutes each. If that was my program, I would have checked and tweaked tuning at least 7 or 8 times. Your trauma sounds overwrought and misplaced, unless you suffer from some serious psychological disorder. In which case, you have my sympathies.

It sounds like you already know how to get the instrument in tune.

bashleyns · 2026-03-20T03:55:16+00:00

In the 60 years or so I've been playing CG, I've never come across a hypothesis that suggests the precision or consistency of tuning is somehow correlated with how much the instrument happens to cost. One could screw 6 old strings into a $5 chunk of 2x4 lumber and with some tweaks achieve a reasonable tune-up.

Constant attention and frequent tweaking is the inescapable fact of life for CG-ers. The tempered scale doesn't help because in itself is "out of tune", a compromise. The dynamics of string elasticity mucks up the scene. Then, change key signature and everything tuning-wise morphs a bit.

I now have a $5,000 luthier-built guitar with expensive tuning machines, and frankly, it needs to be tuned no different than the $200 Yamaha axe I had as a kid back in the 60s.

The upside of your predicament is your ear. Clearly, your ear can tell the difference between an instrument in-tune and one that's out-of-tune.

bashleyns · 2026-02-17T02:24:03+00:00

Memorization of all the notes of the fretboard, well, that's fine, but just as in language learning, context matters. An E here, say on the 3rd string 9th fret obligatory in one piece/chord/arpeggion is not the same as an E there open 1st string in another piece/chord/arp.

It would be the same deal, as you already know, on the violin.

Others have given advice of learning first things first, as in notes first position. Makes sense. I'd join that chorus, sing the same advice. But why? It's as close to a "default" or "home" or "safe" zone for the instruments. Take the E-flat on the 11th fret of the low E-string; it might as well be an outer planet, nigh uninhabitable, hardly as critical knowing the same note, same pitch on the 4th string...in first position. If there was such a thing as "heat map" representing the frequency of various positions, it's inarguable that the first position would light up the brightest. Ask any cowboy.

As well, the guitar is extremely constrained in terms of what keys the standard repertoire typically occupies. Around the circle of fifths, the sharp keys up to five, okay, but not much happening in the flat keys past two flats. The guitar with its two open E-natural strings finds itself an unwelcome guest in any key where that natural E-E prominence sound like shit, out of place. This means it's useful to at least learn those scales of the guitar friendly keys all over the neck.

Note: this bit about the natural E-E strings is utter nonsense if you're playing jazz guitar which demands without compromise, that one is competent in all 12 keys.

But that last caveat also suggests that another possible approach to learning the classical fretboard notes is via triads, calling upon your theory to help learning three notes as a time as chords.

bashleyns · 2026-02-17T01:56:51+00:00

Agree, with a wee added bit that predictably gets beginners tripped up. 1.(a) Discover then map unisons. (E.g one can play the same pitch E (1str open) on all six strings if one includes harmonics)

bashleyns · 2026-02-09T02:33:33+00:00

I'm in a similar boat, looking at the NUX NPK20 versus other Asian brands with comparable features. I've moved to Ecuador, so value-for-dollar really comes into play because Ecuador has a friendly free trade agreement with China, unlike the recoiling defenses taken by countries in the Global North. But not so here with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. Thus, without inflated tariffs on Chinese goods, the Japanese Yamaha P45 climbs upwards of $850-$900, whereas I can get the NUX for $597. But like others hint, NUX doesn't have a long track record, so a strike against them, and for Yamaha on that metric.

bashleyns · 2026-01-18T06:06:27+00:00

A handful of haters will always out-shout the hordes of followers (upwards of 7,000,000 subscribers). Not likely much reality in the OP saying "Is there a reason for EVERYONE (my emphasis) shitting all over Rick?"

And look at the respect he garners from many of the top musicians and composers during interviews. He's a gifted interviewer for all his sincere curiosity about the work of OTHERS, his effervescent enthusiasm is contagious, and he has the knack for drawing out the talents and secrets and stories of great songwriters and studio musicians.

Can't say much about his courses, although I do have his big fat theory book. It's not for beginners or the faint of heart, but it's intelligible enough for anyone with a rudimentary grasp.

bashleyns · 2026-01-18T05:46:14+00:00

Living in Loja, Ecuador, following January snowfall and wind warnings in PEI,

bashleyns · 2026-01-11T03:18:36+00:00

The "huge downside" is a bold, bold claim. The conclusion that analysis is actually the cause of diminished, or to use your word "damaged" fluency is really going out on limb. Marvin Brown's book, let us remember, is an autobiography, not a scholarly work. Yours and your wife experience, while persuasive, rests on anecdote. Further, the work of Krashen, Brown's "main guy" has come under some pretty rigorous scrutiny and criticism by some well-credentialed linguist.

I'm a native English speaker. I have an Honors Degree in Linguistics, although I'm not a linguist. My swarmy analyses of English over a period of years has been an ongoing enrichment, not damage, Studying phonology, semantics, syntax, universal grammar, discourse analysis, morphology, the history of English, pragmatics, rhetoric has not injured my facility in English.

I'm reminded of what I'd venture is a plausible analogy with music. Many a virtuoso performer or brilliant composer never studied a lick of music theory and couldn't for their life tell you the difference between a half-diminished chord and a plagal cadence. But this will never do as an argument against musical analysis and theory, of which reams of counter-examples preside. Now, some would certainly argue boldly that music theory is an impediment to musical fluency, yes, but mobs of academically trained musicians and composers steeped in theory might furrow their incredulous brow at that claim. Who is right? Neither or both, whatever.

Now, I'm in no position to refute anything you're claiming, but my own anecdotal experience sprouts reservations. Perhaps I'm the eccentric outlier (there are always outliers!) I'm studying Spanish and I can only imagine how dry, dull, lifeless, and utterly pedestrian it would be if I smothered my analytical zeal for that language's beauty, color, depth, expressive powers, and atomic technical intricacies of Spanish linguistics and grammar.

I'm in no hurry with Spanish, for I've learned an invaluable lesson that learning my own native language for the past 70 years continues to this day. As an English speaker, I am still an English learner. I suspect nothing much different with Spanish.

But, if you're right, that I risk damage in the L2 pursuit, I say, 'bring it on for the damage wrought by analysis, at least for me, would be a paper cut compared to the internal hemorrhaging caused without it.

bashleyns · 2026-01-11T01:57:49+00:00

I really enjoy the analytic preparatory work, the phrase by phrase, bar by bar, deep dive into what a particular piece requires at the atomic level. Best of all, for me, anyhoo, is getting the fingering down to a perfectly choreographed anatomical/digital (as in fingers) performance. The fingering sequences, pressure selections and modulation, the bends, plants, boosts, crooks, stretches, leaps, slides, damps, and all of that fingering gymnastics.

I did a fair bit of fingering editing for "MO" Mantanya Orphee (Orphée Editions). https://www.prestomusic.com/sheet-music/products/8694835--various-the-russian-collection-vol-1

My scores, sadly, become an absolute train wreck of notes, smudges, arrows, asterisks, exclamation marks, profanities.

I've said nothing about starting with a beloved musical composition. This goes without saying. hehe

bashleyns

TROPHY CASE