The Dilemma

If you are just beginning to learn playing the guitar, you are bombarded with many guitar lessons especially nowadays where so much are available online. This becomes a dilemma for those
starting out to play the guitar. They just do not know where to start!

How to Start?

When I began to play the guitar during my elementary years I did not start to learn forming
chords right away. Not even the easiest ones. The simple reasons of having short fingers those
times had me tinkling only the strings note for note. The melody of “Happy Birthday” song was the
first one I ever played on. I started to learn open chords like D,A,G as soon as I was able to
reach the fretboard with my fingers.

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We have come to expect that ghetto babies will grow up and die as ghetto adults. We seldom see any stories in the media about people who never raise above their ghetto existence. A large number of people born in a ghetto grow up and live decent lives. Many make it to a middle-class life style. However, these people are just as un-news worthy as those that never leave the ghetto. The rages to riches stories are presented by the media as proof of the possibilities for American citizens. They perpetuate the ideal that anyone living in America can become anything he/she wants to be. How often have we seen the headlines: From The Ghetto To Millionaire. The media perpetuates the ideal that anyone in America can become anything he/she wants to because it not only makes us feel good about our Country; it makes America look good to the rest of the World. The ideal says to the World that America is the land of opportunity. See!

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November 1980, Sharon, my wife at the time and I drove down to Wichita Fall, Texas to visit with my brother and his wife, Rose. Rose put us up in a back bedroom with an iron bedstead, iron rails and wood slats, also open springs and a cotton mattress.

Then four months later when she started to show, Sharon told me she thought the baby was conceived on that bed in my brother’s back bedroom. And that thought was born out when nine months later, almost to the day, Christy Danae was born on August 15, 1981.

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Will music survive another 20 years? Yes most definitely but will it be quality or just a sad collection of soulless pre-made beats and canned vocals. Right now you can turn on the radio and hear 40 songs that sound just alike all talking about the same thing. Artist used to try to be different and original, now they are content to just be part of the crowd or herd. Gone are the days when great groups like Earth Wind and Fire, Queen, Funkadelic etc would make an album and take you on a musical journey. They used to use various techniques such as experimental chord changes, pick ups, slow downs, break downs combined with excellent story telling and great lyrics.

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Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking

If your English as a Foreign Language learners are anything like mine, then many of them don’t like to write in English. But since we wish to empower our foreign language learners with all four of the basic language skills, writing needs to be included in our class lessons. So, how can writing be introduced in such a way as to inspire interest and facility to our EFL classes - that is the question.

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I admit it. I need a twelve-step program for people addicted to mail order catalogs. I was clean and shopless for eight months. I was able to put every catalog that came in the mail into the wastebasket without opening a page.

Unfortunately, my resistance crumbled when I was marooned in a doctor’s waiting room without a magazine - not even a three-month-old copy of Newsweek. The other patients, who were also trying to be patient, had taken all the reading material except one, dog-eared catalog.

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I have found that with many of my students that the number one obstacle to learn how to play guitar is motivation. We begin to learn to play but it just seems too hard to do. It does not seem like we are ever going to make any progress. Our fingers hurt and hands are cramping up and it is just not fun to play yet. We are not playing any real songs yet because we are trying to just get a chord down and of course the instructor wants us to play scales or some song we’ve never heard of. Motivation is most definitely the key to success in any endeavor and learning how to play the guitar is no exception. There are a couple of effective methods that I have learned to use with my students when teaching guitar lessons in order to help with these motivation issues.

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Feng shui dates back somewhere between 2000 and 5000 years ago in Ancient China. Here is a look back on this interesting practical philosophy that is becoming popular in the western world.

Feng shui is older than Confucianism and Taoism, and some of the tenets of those spiritual traditions were probably adapted from feng shui. Feng shui literally means wind and water. The ancient practitioners were the building scouts for groups of elite people. They searched for “the belly of the dragon” which were areas that were above flood plains and below strong winds, creating a balance of wind and water. The ancient feng shui masters would then guide the building of the home or the village in order to not disrupt the natural energy flow of the area. Feng shui masters in medieval China were only allowed to serve the elite classes and were punished for helping the commoners.

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This is part two in a series of articles I am writing to help beginning wedding photographers. Wedding photography is a difficult and very challenging undertaking! Are you willing to dedicate 110% of your efforts to record the best possible photos?

Some will likely read this article and think “No, way! I don’t have time for that!” Others will read it and think “This is great! I’m going to invest lots of time so that I can be as prepared as possible.” This article is written for those of you in the latter category.

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