I have played in public just once ( for friends ). I admit that before i started to play i had to drink a couple of beers ( its a big step you now ) I was pretty nervous and find my playing was verry bad ( maybe one beer to much ) but my friends gave me a warm applause . That stimulates me to go one. Its always fun !

The more you play for others (whether it be in public or just for friends) the better at it you will get! And we've all crashed and burned from time to time...don't worry about it, and just have fun! That's the whole point...have fun!

Perhaps it was one beer too few? but then again, I have an irish surname.......

Aha , i think i now you . You must be Larry Guiness !

Close enough! In some circles around here, I was once known as the Guinness Fairy, because when I went to certain shows where you could bring a beer or two and do some tailgating, some extra bottles or cans of Guinness would magically appear on a certain tour bus.

Haha Larry , i like Guinness . Its not so strong as the Belgium beer . Whe have many Irish pubs in Belgium . If you want to know what i mean you must try a Belgium Trappist or Duvel . I dont know if you can buy it where you live . Beware , its pretty strong stuff . but the taste is delicius . Have a nice day. ( sorry for my bad English but i do my best )

That's a terrible thing to do to a guitar! What if it were one of those beauties that Arlo takes around with him, with all the inlay on the fretboard. Not to mention Brazilian rosewood and Adirondack Spruce are in worse shape than oil these days. There must be something less valuable that you could break over the guy's head.

Mark

In guitarschool we have formed a band ( just to learn playing together ) with drums and bass and everything . Whe have practicing for 3 songs to play . After 10 lessons of 1 hour we are gonna play in public ( open school day's ) We have only 2 weeks to go now before D-day I hope that i can control my nervs

Good luck. Playing guitar or any other instrument in front of people gives me stage fright big time. What you're doing sounds similar to what I did in high school.

Back in high school I played acoustic guitar with a rock band. The small private school I went to had music as a class. With it being small, each teacher taught more than 1 subject. The music teacher played guitar & was a young dude with long hair. This was the 70's. I thought he was so cool until I got a bad grade in one of his classes & then realized he had to play along with the establishment. Anyhow, he taught guitar. The elderly lady running the school wanted a school band. So this dude started a rock & roll band. We played at school events. We won a talent contest once & got our pic in the paper. I think it helped that one dude in the band wrote music & we did one of his tunes & well as covers of other folks stuff. I blacked out when I saw the audience. Kids started dancing on chairs when we played & the old lady who ran the school had go thea fit. She started yelling at them to stop that stuff cuz it was so immoral lol. Parents are looking like what in the world lol. Oh well, I made 50 cents offa the gig. During the middle of the show they had different chicks come out & model clothes to show what was in for the young folks to wear. So they ended up having me model what I was wearing which was bell bottom jeans, a funky looking shirt & a jean jacket. While I'm modeling that they're going on about how this is what all the young folks are wearing right now.

And then there was the the school Christmas program we played in. They had it at the Baptist church across the street. Which was what they used for any special school programs or shows. The school was forwarned by the Baptist not to have too loud a music. So we got the word that we could be too loud or it'd piss off the Baptists. So I remember we went more folkie & ended up doing folk versions of Christmas music. Oh yeah, did a gig in NC once.

When that guitar teacher left they got another teacher to take his place & that dude loved Peter, Paul & Mary. The school had some younger teachers who bless their hearts are probably around Arlo or Mikes age now. Just outta college folks lol. So we ended up playing folkie & PP&M stuff. Some black kids joined the class & they hated the folkie stuff we were doing. They'd go them white crackers doing that white cracker music. We white kids would get p'd off by their comments & tell them to shut up that that was good music. And then ya'd get kids going like well how come ya don't do led Zeppelin. Zep is good but this folkies stuff is good too. When the black kids found it out they'd have to do all this practicing & the teacher had folkie visions of doing folk stuff, they ended up leaving the class. Happened with the earlier guitar teachers class too. A few kids joined with rock & roll dreams and after finding you gotta learn how to play & also practice dropped out. Glad I took it & learned guitar tho.

Good luck I'm sure you'll do well...

Thank you for the support Cheryl . Its not a high school but a guitarschool that a'm going to . Am to old for high school ( 48 ) Every saturday morning we practisch playing . My youngest son is 17 years old and he's going whit me ( he is singing one of the 3 songs ) It has never bin my intention to play in a band . ( my intention was to play some blues and folk on my on ) It was an idea of my privat guitarteacher( who also run the school ) Most of the students are much younger then me . Feel like the old grandpa between the kids.

That's a terrible thing to do to a guitar! What if it were one of those beauties that Arlo takes around with him, with all the inlay on the fretboard. Not to mention Brazilian rosewood and Adirondack Spruce are in worse shape than oil these days. There must be something less valuable that you could break over the guy's head.


Unfortunately, it's not just Brazilian Rosewood that is in short supply and not likely to make a comeback; Mahogany (true mahogany...there's other varieties, like Sapele, that are used in place of true mahogany) is going the way of Brazilian Rosewood...it is becoming increasingly scarce, and will become unavailable for guitar building within a few years.
East Indian Rosewood (Arlo's Martin M38 has East Indian) is still available . Guitar makers have been exploring alternative wood sources, and some sustainable domestic woods have been used with great success, like walnut, maple and cherry. Sitka spruce is still available in good supply; Martin Guitar Co. has been to meetings with the Native-American controlled companies in Alaska that control the logging of sitka, and Martin has noted that it is being logged faster than the trees can grow back, and within 20 years there won't be any of that available, either, unless they start using sustainable logging methods. C.F. Martin IV says they're starting to listen.
I think in the future, three-piece backs on guitars will be more common because of the size of the wood available. Carbon fiber and other manufactured materials will become more accepted and used for gigging guitars. Musicians will have to be aware ( even more than today) of appointments on guitars when crossing into foreign countries; rare or precious woods (or abalone/ivory inlay, nuts or saddles) under CITES control on a guitar can cause it to be confiscated by customs if you're not carrying proper paperwork. With woods becoming scarce, mahogany may become one of those woods on the list, and that will make it dicey to travel into Canada with a D18 and no paperwork to prove it was manufactured before it went on the list. Ah, bureaucracy!

Wow, you're not much older than I am. I'll be 48 next June. Sounds like an interesting guitar school. I'm not that good a player but I try. I think if my guitar had a lower string action I could play a little better than I do. Sue had some interesting info on the Martin guitars. Those would be so neat to have but are way outta my price range. I have a used classical guitar and a used electric. My dad got them for me. I changed the strings on the acoustic one from nylon (Plasticy type ones) to bronze & regular steellike ones back when I was a teen cuz I thought the nylon ones weren't loud enough & too wimpy sounding. I probably shouldn't have done that as the nylon ones are probably better for a classical guitar. But when my folks got me the guitar they had no idea what kind they were getting other than it was an acoustic & only $80. Mike has a nice Ephiphone. He did however weasel 3 strings off of mine when a few or his strings broke & I never got around to replacing my strings yet...

Not to forget pernambuco and high quality ebony. Brasil has banned the export of pernambuco. Jet black ebony almost doesn't exist anymore. Italian red spruce is nearly gone.

Hi cheryl , a MARTIN is a verry good guitar but not the cheapest . I have a CORT 100 F guitar wich has a pretty larg action . A friend of me has a IBANEZ folkguitar with cuteway and steelstrings . That guitar sounds good and its easy to play ( verry low action ) The neck of a folk guitar is also smaller than on a classic guitar. Ibanez has a large range of guitars from cheap to expensif . You dont have to spend thousends of dollars to have a guitar that sounds good . For a few hondreds you can get a nice one . Ps. you have the same age of my wife. Greets from Belgium.

Put nylon strings back on it, Cheryl...the tension from the steel strings is greater than the tension from the nylon strings, and the additional stress will pull the guitar apart; the steel strings can be the whole reason for the high action.