I woke up at 5:45am so I can have some alone time before my 2 year old son wakes up. This is the best time for me to get in some guitar playing. I've really been working a lot on fingerpicking, since it's quieter and also tons of fun! Sometimes I don't know how my fingers actually do it!
Quote from: StringPicker6 on July 19, 2023, 05:48:18 AMI woke up at 5:45am so I can have some alone time before my 2 year old son wakes up. This is the best time for me to get in some guitar playing. I've really been working a lot on fingerpicking, since it's quieter and also tons of fun! Sometimes I don't know how my fingers actually do it!
I retired a few years ago but until then I always awoke at 5:00am The coffee was already brewed and I practiced for an hour or so before it was time to get ready to go to work. No interruptions at that hour.
This put me in the proper frame of mind to begin my day at work.
Way back when I had children in the house, late at night and early in the morning were my favorite times. They're so adorable when they're sleeping. Now the dogs have me up between five and six most mornings. Helen's new puppy is always on the go when not sleeping. Time to take my big guy for an early morning walk before it gets too hot. Then we're driving to Appleton to do some shopping. I might get some time to play guitar later. Trying to learn new songs and work some harmonica into the mix. All in a days work.
I get up around 5:30, lift weights, brew up a big cup, and then drink it on my drive to work. I never play guitar before work. Just no time. I do play early AMs on the weekends and I love the sound of my guitar in the quietness and stillness of the house. I set up in a corner behind my front door where there is a bit of tile in the entry way. Makes for some amazing natural reverb. I also play a bit most nights before bed. No reverb in the bedroom but it's still great. After 30 years I've recently begun to change my technique and find myself playing fingerstyle using all my fingers rather than planting and using only two. It's odd because it just happened on its own. But hey, I'll take it!
My wife and I still live in our huge 6bedroom house. All the 5 kids are grown and out, but we have a few grandkids now and they all come over to swim and have birthday parties here. I have my 3 Larrivees and Goodall in different rooms downstairs that get played every day. I keep my Yamaha LL500 in a big bonus room upstairs and always play that one upstairs before turning in. I have to say the LL500 is an amazing guitar. It rivals the Larrivees and Goodall in tone and has more sustain than any of them. These were the very rare handmade in Japan model from 1999-2003. Michael Chapdelaine actually plays one, and he's one of the best in the world.
Quote from: 247hoopsfan on July 19, 2023, 11:59:35 AMMy wife and I still live in our huge 6bedroom house. All the 5 kids are grown and out, but we have a few grandkids now and they all come over to swim and have birthday parties here. I have my 3 Larrivees and Goodall in different rooms downstairs that get played every day. I keep my Yamaha LL500 in a big bonus room upstairs and always play that one upstairs before turning in. I have to say the LL500 is an amazing guitar. It rivals the Larrivees and Goodall in tone and has more sustain than any of them. These were the very rare handmade in Japan model from 1999-2003. Michael Chapdelaine actually plays one, and he's one of the best in the world.
My house is the opposite of huge, but I did grow up in a house with a pool. Lots of great memories of 20th century summers. I looked up that Yamaha model. Pretty nice!
I still have adult daughters living at home... and an autistic adult son. For electric, as long as my son isn't practicing piano (I don't know if it's the autism or just plain old talent, but he blows me away with his keyboard prowess) or my wife practicing sax, I go down to the music room and let 'er rip. Quieter than 20-50 years ago but still. :nana_guitar I go down and sing with acoustic now and then but I'm pretty self critical of my voice. Usually I wait for times when everyone is gone to do my caterwauling. :guitar
Ed
I'm trying to get better on harmonica on a rack. I can play a little holding it in my hands but rack mounted gives me troubles. The other issue is, although we have a large house and I'm in my basement music room, our 12 year old Chihuahua goes nuts, throws his head back and howls when he hears harmonica or the phone. Everyone's a critic. People who phone us think we are torturing an animal. On second thought, maybe we are. LOL
Besides working harmonica into "the act", I'm trying to get Stan Rogers' "The Mary Ellen Carter" down. Great song. Lots of verses for this old memory, however.