I've Got Something To Show You.

     So, a package arrived yesterday. I'm sure you can guess what it is by the box, but we'll talk about that a little later. 

     It appears that the forecast for Saturday has changed, and it has changed in a good way. It looks like now, the weather is going to be exceedingly favorable for the next ride in the Adventure Time Series. What was supposed to be a morning full of showers, is now a slight  chance of showers. It should be a beautiful day for a ride, and I'm really looking forward to it. There is going to be a surprise guest along for the ride this time, and the two, that's right, two locations that we are going to, are relatively new to the area. I now for a fact that one of them only opened about a month ago. This will be a long day, so I'm going to have to do some self editing on myself while I'm shooting with the GoPro. Fortunately it is voice activated, so I can start recording and stop recording by just saying those very words. Tomorrow night I will go over everything on Saki, and the GoPro, so that all the batteries are charged, all old video footage is deleted form the SD card, and Saki has good air pressure, and all the bolts are tightened down. 

     Don't forget, that I will be posting an Instagram story along with this, so that you can follow along as I do it, or you have 24 hours from the time I post each part of the story to watch it. Once it's gong though, it's gone, and you will have to wait until Sunday night to read about it. I will hopefully have the video edited and posted on YouTube by the time that I write the blog post. If for some reason, I don't have it ready in time for the Sunday night post, I will have it ready for the Tuesday night post. It will just be a little out of place on a Tuesday night when I will have already talked about it on Sunday. Can you tell that I'm rambling on? There's a reason for that. I really just want to get to what's in that box up there, but I need a little more content before I reveal it to you.

     Another picture, and no real reveal? Yeah, I'm being pretty sneaky tonight. Ok, I'm sure that you can tell by the box, and the above picture of what appears to be a gig bag with a guitar in it, that I ordered my guitar finally. That is the case, but before I show you the guitar, I have to tell you about my ukulele class tonight, which wasn't a ukulele class. 

     I was a little nervous tonight. It was like going to my first class all over again. I know very little about playing guitar, and let's face it, ti's a bit intimidating. It's larger than a ukulele, it has 6 strings (yes the guilele has 6 strings as well, but it's not the same), ti's electric, and has knobs and switches and things. There is a lot to take in. Anyway, I got to class at the same time I always do, and hung out in the little lounge area that they have. I purposely stuffed the gig bag a little back form where I normally have my ukulele, and had my leg in front of it, partially hiding it. It wasn't a very good job, if anyone really cared to look, they would know instantly that it wasn't a ukulele. My teacher walked out from his previous lesson, and was focused on other things, but still pointed at me, and said,"You". In a somewhat accusatory voice, implying that I was next on the chopping block, and then said that I could go back and he would see me in a half hour. My lesson is only a half hour, so you see the humor in that. I picked up the guitar and snuck past him and headed into the music room. 

     He was helping his other student to his car, because he had surgery on his knee or something not too long ago, and has to walk with a cane. The student not my teacher. I got the new guitar out of the bag, and sat there waiting for him. the bathroom for the place is directly across from his room and he headed in there to wash his hands. As he did, he flippantly said, "So where is you Les Paul?" I said, "ti's right here." He finished with his hands, came around the corner and I held up the guitar. He was blown away, "Are you kidding me?" "That is beautiful." He's a guitar guy so he loves guitars of any kind. he immediately asked to hold it. He tuned it up, which is a normal practice when I go in. With new strings on any instrument, they go out of tune almost immediately until the strings are broken in. He was loving it. he looked it over completely. He pointed out a few of the features that stood out to him, like the finish and how it wasn't overdone. He loved the rosewood on the fretboard, and the etching that is on the back of the head. Gibson etches "Made in USA" on the back with then model year and another thing that I can't remember. If I do remember, I will get a picture of it for Sundays post, so that you can see what I"m talking about. I guess I should finally show you the new guitar right?

     Not quite yet. This was a new experience for me. We had played around with his guitars in the past, but we never really got in the nuts and bolts of them until today. He showed me what all the knobs and switches on my guitar did, and it was fascinating. I won't go into it here, because it wold probably bore you, but the knobs are in sets, and relate to the pick ups on the guitar, same with the switch. Here was the biggest thing. On the ukulele the chords are similar to the guitar, but they aren't the same chords. I know, that makes no sense, stick with me though. Since the ukulele is scaled differently, not just in size, but in the actual scale, what might be a C on the ukulele, is a G on the guitar. It has the same fingering, but since it is in a different area of the scale it has a different name. It's going to take some getting used to, but it's going to be fun

     Now a picture? Ehh, not quite yet. He started pulling out all kinds of charts for me that relate to the guitar. Chord charts, barre chord charts, and note charts. All of it is interesting stuff to me. It's old stuff, but it's all new in this sense. Now it was time for the nitty gritty of actually playing it. He starts showing me the different chords and having me play them. I took to them really quick, after all, they weren't really all that new to me, they were just given different names, and the scale on the guitar is slightly longer than on a ukulele. I'm talking about the fretboard here. It is longer between frets on the guitar than on the ukulele. I was able to get through all the chords with very little problem. He then went over the barre chords. I took to them just as quick, and I learned a few things about them, and how to name them, you know like A chord or B chord, stuff like that. These were a few things we didn't really get into on the ukulele. It's new and fascinating stuff to me. That took up all of our time, but he told me, that we just covered about 6 months of lessons in a half hour. It seems like aliens, but I remember when I was just starting out, and how long it took me to just get a G chord under mu fingers, so I believed it. Hell, barre chords terrified me. I thought there was no way that I was ever going to get them, and now they are my favorite type of chords to play.

     I told him that I had the ukulele to thank for my speed in picking all that stuff up today. Alright alright, I'll put of the picture of the new guitar. Before we get to it though, I need to make a proper introduction. I mentioned in previous posts that I was looking at a specific Gibson Les Paul. Well I found it on a site called Musicians Friend. My teacher mentioned it to me, and I went there on Friday, and there was may guitar. The site is great, it has all the things you need and then some, and the best part is, that there were no taxes on it, nor did I have to pay for shipping. I got it for cost. I couldn't pick it up cheaper if I went to Orlando and got one form one of the music stores there. Anyway I would like to introduce you, to Penelope.

     As you can see, Penelope is a fiery red-head that can really wail. Classic Les Paul design with all those beautiful curves. That is the finish he was talking about. It has a light gloss finish to it that he really liked. The word is, that the less finish that is on a guitar, the better. It lets the wood open up faster than if you had a high gloss finish on it. this particular one is called the Gibson Les Paul Faded T. There are a few other numbers and letters, but it isn't really important that you know all that. It's called Faded because it is supposed to look like its is worn down over years of playing, hence the light gloss finish. Sometimes I stumble into the right thing, and this appears to be one of those cases. Like with the GoPro and the mic set-up. I had no idea, that a light gloss finish would be better, I just liked the look of it, and I knew that I wanted a Gibson Les Paul. This is the one that stood out to me, and it was a very good price. I told my teacher the cost when he asked, and he said that you would have a hard time finding a used one for cheaper than that. He also said that he would take that on stage for a show in a heartbeat. It's not professional grade, so that made me feel pretty good when he said that, and he has professional grade guitars.

      I'm really excited about everything that is going to come next with this new world to explore. It's going to be a wild ride. Peace in and goodnight.