This week I had one of those slap me in the head, wake up idiot moments, which I get to near the end of today’s update. It had to do with good practice techniques and how easy it is to forget them at times.

I finally got to spend a little time yesterday looking at Muriel Anderson’s arrangement of Close To You, starting with our video from a few weeks back but leading me to track down a full performance of her running through it. We even have a couple of those over on our Acoustic Snapshot blog. Check these out when you can as they gave me some good ideas about stretching it out a bit.

https://www.totallyguitars.com/acousticsnapshots/muriel-anderson/muriel-anderson-plays-close-to-you-at-club-fox/

https://www.totallyguitars.com/acousticsnapshots/muriel-anderson/muriel-anderson-close-to-you/

Next on the agenda were some comments on the weather and a mention of the Phoenix Guitar League where Doug Young will be leading the meeting on February 12. Then there was a little talk about pickups and that I am looking forward to getting my Santa Cruz guitar back early next week.

As I started talking about this week’s new releases I got sidetracked playing a little of Faro’s Rag by John Renbourn. This was inspired by mentioning the Student Review of John Kelemen’s Judy. We also resurrected the Fly On The Wall lessons with Sandy working on Crying In The Rain by The Everly Brothers. The week was completed with Jeremy by Pearl Jam, Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones, and Guilty by Barbra Streisand.

Another happening this week was a comment from a Target member that was looking for something in the Homeward Bound lesson that I did not address. I would love it if anytime somebody felt that more could be added to a lesson they bring it up on the Forum. I have added new parts to old lessons many times over the years, like Wild Horses, Rhiannon and Wish You Were Here to name a few.

Towards the end I got to the ‘a-ha’ moment that I hinted at in the beginning which I hope will be something everybody remembers when they are having trouble with a difficult section, or making a big position change… duh!

Hopefully next week will bring more insight, at least here at TG Central.