The story of the shitar

I got a new couch last Friday. I love it. The whole thing reclines. It gives "couch potato" a whole new dimension.

This story is not about the couch.

It's about what I had to go through to get it.

The couch was being delivered that afternoon. In preparation, my wife and I moved our dogs upstairs so they would be out of the way when the delivery men came. We have four dogs. None of them are very big. Three of them spend their days in crates while the wife and I are at work, both for their sake and the sake of everything we hold dear. So on Friday morning before work, I carried three crates upstairs to our back room, put the dogs in, said goodbye and went to work.

Our back room is our multi-purpose room. It's where we keep our computers, our exercise equipment and, yes, my guitar stuff. In one corner of the room, I have my amp underneath an old end table with my computer and assorted crap on it (it actually looks like it's meant to be used that way) next to a dual guitar stand with one guitar facing back toward the wall and another facing forward. That day, I had my beloved Strat on the stand facing outward. I lined up the three crates in front of the guitar area along the wall (actually a closet door) as that was the only place in the room that had enough real estate to hold them all.

It turned out to be my fatal mistake.

Life with Hal - Book One

It's officially been two weeks since I started going through the Hal Leonard guitar books and I've finished book one, so I think it's time for an update. These are the same books that I used when I started my guitar lessons 25 years ago. I bought them again because the books and I had some unfinished business. Also, I'm weak on the fundamentals.

How's it been?

Surprisingly fun. I wish I would've had this mindset back when I was 11. I would be a much better guitar player now, and who knows? Maybe I'd be making some kind of living playing music. But, my life worked out very well anyway, time only moves forward, and all I can do is start from right now and become the best guitarist I can until old age takes it away. These books will help.

DeQuervain's Syndrome - A real pain in the thumb

Atari killed my thumbs.

I came to this realization yesterday afternoon when I was on a walk with a coworker. I was explaining to him the problem I have with my thumbs - DeQuervain's Syndrome - and I started thinking back to when I first noticed it. My thoughts took me back to my childhood, when I would play Atari (and later Commodore 64, which used Atari joysticks) games for hours on end.

It made more sense when I thought about the ergonomics of the old Atari joysticks - one stick, one thumb button on the upper left corner.

Why?

You see, I have it worse in my left hand. The trigger hand. Pressing that trigger thousands of times a day did more damage than I thought.