OT: I seem to be becoming a bit of redneck.

I've solved the where do I get a practice amp from problem. Those mighty annoying England megaphones are £2.99 in Halfords, and one the of the Cigarbox Nation guys snipped off the mic and added a 1/4" jack. Only he paid £4.99 for his.

I bought a couple and see about relocating them in small tins, changing them from 6->9v to get rid of the 4 c cell batteries, and see how they sound without the cones on the front. And if they work, ebay them.

Or

You may wish to try finding an 'evaluation' copy of Guitar Rig from native instruments. Very cool bit of software indeed.

A 1/4" jack to USB connector is about 2 bob these days.

Hey guys, I'm 52 years old, completely tone deaf, can't read a note of music, have fingers as thick as cumberland sausages and can't hold a tune to save my life. However, things have happened over recent years to make me think that life's too short and sometimes, you just have to do what you want to do, so I've just bought my very first guitar (from Ebay - waiting for it to arrive).

Given the above, your best advice is probably "don't bother", but, how do I even get started? Can you suggest any good books/DVDs/online stuff? How did you get started? Pro lessons?

Cheers, John

Nah, save yourself the effort - just convince yourself that you sound awesome as you are. There are various brainwashing techniques which can be applied. Oh, and change your name to "The Axe Man". That'll help.

Right, that's my tuppenny's'th. I'll leave it to the chaps who know of wot they talk.

Thanks Albert, feel better about meself already :-)

Keep it up, John.

I've been playing bass for about three years now, not very well, but I spend a bit of time in a recording studio and most of my non-car mates are musicians so it felt a bit bad not being able to jam along with them. I'm lucky in that my timing is pretty good, it's just finding the notes is the harder hurdle.. It's fun though.

P.S. I'm rapidly heading towards 40, so that'll be 25 years since I last tried to learn it..

Doh! You had to bring timing up - that's something else I'm crap at, but cheers Pete :-)

I'm certainly fired up and full of enthusiasm but, almost all my school reports used to say something along the lines of "Tries hard but could do better". Ah well, such is life. Painful finger ends, here I come :o).

John

Buying a guitar is a good start.

Once you've learnt how to tune it, work on the very basic bits to start with. Your fingers will hurt like a bugger to start with, but that's just part of the drill. Plenty of web sites will give you the basic chord shapes, find one and practice holding it down so that each note rings out clear. You can practice strumming with your other hand.

I'm not really a teacher, but I've been playing for since I was twelve, so that's err, well, let's say it's the wrong side of thirty years.

Tis a great thing the guitar, I keep one tuned up and sitting next to me all the time.

Bass is even better :-)

P.S. I'm left handed but play right handed. All the best people do.

Cheers Bob, some wise words there :o)

Listen to Seasick Steve playing one, then weep. The man can wring a tune out of just about anything.

One of my main reasons for wanting to build one and learn to find the tune inside the box. Might I suggest you look up an artist who goes by the name of Hollowbelly, on Youtube. His album Punk, Northern and Blue has some awesome tracks on it.

I will, thanks.

May I suggest in return that you try Afrissippi, not least for the fact that his records are published by Electric Catfish. He noticed the similarity between Delta Blues and the Music of his home, Mali.

Another artist from Mali worth a listen is Issa Bagayogo (Techno Issa).

That I quite like. Will listen to some more.

The CD "Fulani Journey" is worth getting, available on iTunes. The opening track "Ngol Jimol" is great.

Thanks to my Android phone and a cheap set of strings, I now have a Cigar box guitar tuned to Open C which sounds OK.

Just need to learn to play it, playing slide sounds like a laugh.