YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I imagine this:

It is Fall 2021. Nearly everyone is vaccinated, the leaves are changing, and it is just the right amount of chilly: a touch, at twilight.

I'm on the town square, unobtrusively playing guitar for a young woman. Though she is in her late 20's (a man can dream), she has never been serenaded. I play competently and she is charmed.

That's where I want to be, post vaccine life. I am imagine most women haven't been serenaded, so if I can give them that experience, I should.

Long story short, much as I admire anyone who can play guitar, I could simply not coordinate strumming, using more than one finger for making chords, and reading music.


****Start of guitar-specific woes and small triumphs that you are entirely welcome to skip*****

Realizing I was the only person to save myself, I kept trying Udemy tutorials until I figured out I could arpeggio open chords all day, and I could read tab.

That may be enough. It would have to be...

I gave away my guitar to a good home (this still makes me sad, but he could really play it, and he was extremely grateful) and started over with a lyre. There are no chords, and I could more or less transpose sheet music to tab (eg, each of the ten strings has a number, so a snippet of an Irish love song might read like this: 7548 7518 3234231, each number representing one of the 10 strings to pluck. Something of a chord could be created by plucking the 5 and 2 strings at the same time.

(btw, that paragraph above took me three years to get through. I persisted.)

Looking at this Irish sheet music, I noticed that it is more or less one note at a time, so far as I could tell, it is just arpeggios with one extra step: pressing down the string at a certain fret.

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/irish ... nblane.htm

So that's where I'm at now: I'm good with my lyre (more anon), and in a fit of faith I bought a cheap acoustic from Amazon. I can arpeggio all day: can I press down the specific string at a particular fret?

******** End of entirely optional guitar talk.

Without being overly dramatic, being able to play a simple song is what my serenading (and afterwards) hopes depend on.

I'm something like 90% sure I can. But I am not certainly. I am close, and the rewards (which I'm sure I don't have to spell out for a successful serenading) are beyond measure.

Here's the plan, and how I'll report back here, with your kind indulgence:

I can practice, at my own rate, the left hand proto-chord making. If I can do that, I can serenade. If I can't, well then I got a lot further than I expected, and I can focus on the lyre, which is a better fit for me. But playing a guitar at twilight for a beautiful woman in late summer? That is appealing.

Update (maybe even including a YT video) soon!

1. Progress
2. Exhausted for January
3. The stakes: Safety Not Guaranteed scene

1. Progress: Hi friends. I'm pleased to report I've made progress in the Udemy tutorial, and can play a simple classical guitar melody. Doing things my way (guitar flat on my lap, so I can easily see the strings, and going slowly) I can say the $60 on the new guitar was money well spent. On the lyre I can play the simplest of lullabies, so in the next week or two I may post here with Youtube videos demonstrating my skill.

2. That said, goodness I am cutting back on all effort for the rest of January. Just surviving COVID/lockdown and holding down my job will be enough for me. I enjoy trying to improve myself, but pre-vaccine 2021 is no time to push oneself.

3. First up, if you haven't seen "Safety Not Guaranteed", please do before reading any further. It is such a sweet, arch, and warm film.

That said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dz_nQYwkl4

Our hero, our brother Mark Duplass, shows off real skill on the zither. I've always been a Kinsey zero, and when no less a beauty than Aubrey Plaza said "I'll tell you if it is good or not", I turned into a Kinsey 00000.

While one has to use discretion when effecting a serenade, one look in those big eyes, even if she is acting, is enough to motivate me. This is real.

Update in a few weeks with a virtual performance!

Hi Oak,

I applaud your musical and romantic efforts, and also applaud giving yourself a break if needed.

Will look forward to a virtual song if you feel like sharing down the line.

I remember seeing "Safety Not Guaranteed" and also found it to be sweet and poignant.

rivergirl

Thanks Rivergirl! I appreciate your encouragement. I did step away from it for a few days, since I get intense, mentally.

So, the following takes courage: I'm sharing an arpeggio I made.

I am embarrassed that you can hear me breathe at least twice, but I figured that if I want to be serenading in September, I just have to go for it. If I wait until it is perfect or even good, I'll never do it. Scary, but here goes:

https://youtu.be/d_JetpcMPNM

Lovely, thank you for sharing, Oak.

I've never been serenaded, but if I was I think sincerity would win over technical perfection.

rivergirl

when no less a beauty than Aubrey Plaza said "I'll tell you if it is good or not"

Lol I simply love that ironic intelligent gaze of Aubrey Plaza and that you never know if she's serious or not, like here with Conan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jORFHuGIvVI
...definitely too hot to handle. I'm imagining her boyfriend getting a call or a text from her and him always getting a little chill up his spine like "uuuuh what am I in for now...?"

Oak, having a project or a goal right now like learning to play the guitar is like a lifeline. I'm doing some watercolor myself, nothing fancy, just trying to find my style. We're gonna get through this in one piece if we're careful. Vaccine here in Spain is trickling in but any real easing of restrictions may not come until 2022. It is what it is.

Well said, Troebia. It is such a sweet movie. And besides being a great beauty, she is an excellent actress. I wish I could see that movie again for the first time.

And thank you for the guitar encouragement: right now it is cold and overcast, I can play only rudimentally songs slowly, and I don't have anyone to play them for. But I can imagine a time when it is warm, we can meet on the town square, I can play, and I have someone to play it for. Hope is what this is all about.

Further, I whole heartedly encourage your watercolor efforts. I saw, and very much enjoyed, the painting you shared here in the forum. Keep at it, and please feel free to share, as you feel comfortable.

Lastly, thought I've never been there I have an affinity for Spain.

In honor of you, Troebia, I found two Spanish songs, Espanoleta by Gaspar Sanz and Ejercicio by Jose Ferrer. With lots of courage I'll practice them this week, and post a recording of me playing them, even if it is just a few bars, by Sunday.

Hello Oak,

Just listened to your guitar serenade, and it's good! Keep at it.
I admire your dedication. I wanted to be a guitar hero as a teen, but didn't have the patience for that, or the piano.

But be careful! We *may* start posting your links to the "Music" thread here

The Arpeggio sounds lovely.

I’ve heard music practice is an excellent way of moving away from the amygdala (brain’s fear response centre).

I saw Safety not Guaranteed a few years back and was similarly moved. There’s a scene in Stranger than Fiction with Will Ferrell serenading;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aqDDsWjParU

I know what you mean about Spain.

I’ve got two Spanish songs I love;

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=41PzEgz9rCM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXZqAUpoMc

Thanks, as always, Beany Boo and SnoringDog; your encouragement means a lot. I am keeping after it. I can more or less pick "Aude lang syne" and "You Are My Sunshine" since I posted a week ago.

And yes, Beany Boo, I immediately knew, and smiled, what you were so kind as to link to as soon as I saw "Stranger Than Fiction". I am charmed that in both films our brothers both Dunning-Krueger their skills, and are brave enough to play anyway, to the delicious outcome.

My goal for the coming week: in addition to improving my fingerpicking on guitar, I have connived, or maneuvered, to tell the pretty barista that I set one of her poems to music on the lyre (which is actually true). That's step 1, and step 2 is I play it for her sometime, which after all is the whole reason for this thread: serenading in 2021. Step 3 obviously is that she falls in love with me. Step 3 is mostly hope, and hope isn't a strategy, but I need hope to live.