Archive for the ‘Hobbies’ Category
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 7, 2012
An easy way to teach yourself guitar, learning how to play in your own time. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Thursday morning it was bright and sunny but I had to drive to another town to do a small job. The roads were very light on traffic due to there being a school holiday for two weeks which made it quite a pleasant journey there and back. I was back home before 10 and relaxed for a while reading a magazine and then spending some time on the computer and the Internet. After lunch I decided to do some work in my bedroom whilst E went out to do the weekly shop. The afternoon was still sunny and a lot warmer too so I took my guitar outside and sat playing for over an hour after which I decided that my fingertips had had enough for a while. I remember when I first picked up a guitar and struggled with some easy chords but after some practice finally becoming competent enough to play a song or two. Of course there are many chords to learn on a guitar so it was a case of practice, practice and practice and after that, more practice! Eventually things become easier and some of the more difficult chord shapes don’t look so daunting. Practicing the guitar for me, and it should be the same for anyone doing the same, is not a chore but a pleasure. Over time I found I was able to play quite a number of songs and now have a reasonably sized repertoire with many of the songs my own compositions (many of them are on my YouTube channel). With time my fingertips became tougher but even so become tender if I play for too long in a session, which for me now is around an hour and a half, maybe two hours. I sat in the front of the house for it was much warmer there. The rear garden was still fairly warm and sunny but because of the wind direction it was cooler than at the front of the house. At the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door are two small sandstone pillars just the right height for sitting upon and as they are flat-topped they are comfortable too. Usually I play indoors but when the weather is fine I like to go outside to play but I don’t always have the time during the day and by evening it starts to get cooler so I take the opportunity to play outside whenever I can.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Hobbies, Music, Rest and relaxation | Tagged: Arts, Guitar, Music, Music and Audio, Stringed, Strings | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 21, 2012
Music guitar (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
A few weeks ago I was checking an electrical job which had been done by the consumer herself and at the same time I re-arranged some other circuits myself. If you read the post I wrote around that time you may remember me mentioning that she, Dianne, had two good quality guitars which she’d had for many years but she couldn’t play them having never learned how. One was a six-stringed instrument and the other a twelve-stringed instrument. At that time she asked if I could teach her how to play and I replied that if I could find the time I would help her learn the basics. She told me the she only wants to learn the basics but I know if she spends the time practicing she will want to go further as much as she is able to. I did tell her that she will need to be patient and that she must practice as much as she can. On Monday I called her on the phone and asked if it was convenient for me to visit and start giving her some lessons as I had some free time. She told me she spent a lot of time at home as she doesn’t have a job because of her bad health so anytime would be ok. I went along with my guitar some chord sheets and songs. Now the thing is this, she is left-handed and when I was showing her how to hold down a few basic chord shapes she said she found it difficult and could I re-string the instrument for a left-handed person. I explained that I could but that would mean having to learn all the chords mirror fashion and buy chord sheets for left-handed players. I tried to persuade her to persevere with right-hand playing, for a beginner it is just as difficult learning to play either way. Before I could begin I had to tune her guitar, the six-stringed one, and then I began to show her some simple chords like G, A and D and before too long she was beginning to get to grips with them. Her main concern was that it was hard holding down the strings, a normal reaction for all beginners! After about an hour and a half the ‘lesson’ was over and I left. She had other things to do and I had to return home. I told her to continue with those chords for now practicing each one in turn until she is confident with them. It takes a while , not only remembering the shapes and how to hold them but beginning to switch from one to the other too, something every beginner must learn to do if they are going to be able to play music of course. I said I would return next week sometime to see how she is progressing. I didn’t have anyone teach me how to play, I persevered alone but anything is possible if the heart is in it. I am sure Dianne will master the basics before too long though, she’s that kind of person.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Hobbies, Music | Tagged: Chord, Guitar, Learning, Left-handedness, Music, String instrument, Stringed | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 3, 2011
Image by kevin dooley via Flickr
I am quite an active person, when there are things to do I get on with them. These days my electrical work comes and goes and I find myself either with nothing to do on some days and at other times I am fully occupied. Now I am not getting any younger, like everyone else, so I cannot do as much now as I was once able to do but even so I do far more than most people I know of the same age. I get tired of course I do but strangely enough I don’t seem to be able to sleep for longer periods than 4 or 5 hours at a time. On Wednesday morning I planned to get up early and have a stint on my treadmill as I had no scheduled work. I went to bed at 11.30 the night before but watched television until around 1 am. I woke up around 6 but that is an estimate, I don’t have a clock in the room and I couldn’t be bothered to check the time on my mobile phone. I could tell approximately that is was 6 o’clock by the amount of light coming through the chink in the curtains. I closed my eyes again and went back to sleep. I didn’t wake up until 10.30. I really must have been tired. That happens sometimes when I need that extra sleep. It can be a bit awkward as we get older, not needing much sleep and therefore having more time awake but less to do in it! Physically I can only do so much but whilst I am still able I do what I can. The important thing is to find something to keep me interested. I spent almost half an hour on the treadmill before returning upstairs to bathe and dress and had the rest of the day to myself. Most of it was spent doing household chores and pursuing my hobbies. The exercising does help by the way!
Shirley Anne
- When will it end?! (familyphotographyandfood.wordpress.com)
- For the Love of Sleep (glimmerdesigns.wordpress.com)
- How Exercise Affects Your Sleep (sleepoptionsmattress.wordpress.com)
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Posted in Activity, Hobbies, House and Home, Lifestyle, Rest and sleep | Tagged: Back to Sleep, Health, Housekeeping, Time | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on September 15, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Well I finally caught up with recording on YouTube. Since I bought the new microphone I have been experimenting with recording some songs of my own, only the music, no vocals as yet. To be honest it has been a long time since I sang in public and since my transition I haven’t really tried singing in my new voice as it were so I am loathed to broadcast vocals unless I have practiced first. My first attempt at recording for YouTube wasn’t a music clip but a message to a friend of mine who lives over in New Jersey. As it has no personal information in the message I have allowed it to be viewed by anyone as I have done with the three (so far) music clips I have placed there. There are two links from this site to my YouTube channel. One is above under Zone 2 and the other is to the right under Minkyweasels Musings (the quicker route). If you have a mind to go see, the go see! LOL. Encouraging comments are always welcome! I would normally place videos on here but WordPress charge for the privilege, Google doesn’t. Many years ago I recorded some thirteen of my songs with a young lady but they were recorded to tape! I still have that tape and a player to play it. I also have a usb turntable I use to convert my vinyl records to didital storage on my computer which has an input socket for microphones or other input devices including tape machine outputs but I have not gotten round to re-record the tape yet. Perhaps one day I might just do that. For the time being I am continuing to experiment with recording straight from my guitar.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Hobbies, Music | Tagged: Entertainment, Google, Music, Music video, WordPress, YouTube | 1 Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on September 9, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Now that I have your attention I am not really daft, honest! A few days ago I was messing about on my computer, an Acer 894 3G, when I discovered yet another of its capabilities. When I bought the machine earlier in the year I decided I would buy a machine with a high-end specification, not because I wanted to spend all that on a computer that was going to have limited use but rather because I wanted to buy something which might prove useful later. Since buying the machine and using it I have found it capable of many things. Getting back to the other day, I was investigating its use in making movies through the built-in webcam, something I didn’t know was possible but reasoned that it might be. After all, why have a webcam that can only be used for communication? So I made a short recording and realised that it was recording sound too. I should have known that because the built-in microphone is used for web communication! I am daft at times! LOL. Now that I knew I could make videos with sound I experimented recording whilst I was playing my guitar. Unfortunately, although the recordings went well, the sound reproduction wasn’t as good as expected and it made the guitar sound ‘tinny’ with little bass, nothing like the instrument itself. I am thinking it might be better to use an external microphone instead. For voice communication the internal microphone is excellent but unless there is a way to adjust the parameters for music recording the external microphone might be the best option. I am not sure how to do that yet. I have programs for editing soumd and video and will need the same for recording. It is early days but I have found a new toy to play with. Perhaps I can record some songs soon, not sure about the singing though! LOL
Since I wrote this (a few days ago) I purchased a usb condenser microphone via the Internet and received it yesterday.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Computer, Hobbies, Music | Tagged: Audio, Entertainment & Arts, Microphone, Music, Sound recording and reproduction, Universal Serial Bus, Webcam | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 15, 2010
I have been recording my vinyl albums to my computer through a usb turntable but it takes so much time. I am getting the hang of it though. Of course I have to remain with, or near to the player until the record has been copied. The next step is to store it in the iTunes environment for future replaying from the computer. This second process however takes a very long time indeed, a couple of hours per one side of an LP record! Whilst this is being done I can leave the computer to get on with it, knowing that I need not be there. Today I have managed to digitally record or copy three sides of a double album of four sides. I have about another 250 side to copy so I will most probably be still doing this next year!
During the day I found a tape recording of fourteen of my own songs that I recorded with a girl called Annette back in 1995. I set up the tape deck (yes, they still exist!) and played it through an amplifier. It brought back memories and although the recording levels had not been properly set, it was a reasonable recording. I can digitally copy it now and if I use the special software I can attempt a re-mix too so it might eventually sound better. The next thing I am going to attempt is to record all my songs directly to the computer through the usb turntable. There are separate input sockets for doing just that. Basically the usb device is built inside of the turntable but the turntable itself is only one of the different inputs that can be utilised. I will have to use my second guitar to record because it is fitted with pick-up whereas my favourite guitar doesn’t. I suppose I could have one fitted though. We’ll see.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Enjoyment, Hobbies, Music | Tagged: Hobbies, Music | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 7, 2010
Last night I was feeling a little bored so I went into the kitchen and did some baking again! Yes, another cake. This time a Victoria Sponge with buttercream filling and sprinkled with an icing-sugar coating. I decided against a vanilla flavoured sponge but added vanilla to the buttercream. You have to remember it is a very long time since I last did any baking at all, probably 35 years so it is now something of a re-learning curve! I have always liked cooking, preparing meals and such but I never did feel the same way about baking. The tables have turned though and now I get great pleasure from baking. In the near future I propose to try to bake things I have never baked before, bread for instance. I like the idea of baking bread from scratch so I might have a go at that. There is something special about a home-made and home-baked loaf of bread and bread is something I really like. This is a side of Shirley Anne that has never been exposed before and it gives me an extra hobby in which to indulge.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Cooking, Hobbies | Tagged: Cooking, Hobbies | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 10, 2009
My ex. has done it again! She does a lot of competitions online and is always winning something. A couple of years ago she won a holiday for four people for two weeks in Bermuda. A couple of months ago she won a king size bed! Once she won a chance to drive a chieftain tank and spent a day with the army! She told me tonight, after showing me yet another little prize, a DVD, that she has won a free hot-air balloon trip for two which can be taken anytime within the next twelve months. It appears that I will get the chance to go with her. I have never been in a balloon so it will be an experience for me too! You know what they say, you’ve got to be in it to win it. Seems she is into everything…..LOL
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Hobbies | Tagged: Hobbies | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on October 19, 2009
It was back in 1990 when I was involved with children’s Sunday school in my (then) church when I decided to take up playing the guitar. Over the years I had always had a secret yearning to play an instrument and particularly a guitar but I never did. I came close once when I was 22. I was out looking for a place to eat with my work buddy and we came across a shop selling musical instruments. We saw a lovely guitar and I was tempted to buy it but failed to do so. Looking back, that was a mistake because it was 23 years later that I bought one and it was much harder by then to learn. However my heart was set on learning even it was only for the children at church. So I learned to play a few cords and the children loved it. After a year or so I was invited to join the church band but I still had lots to learn. I stayed in the band for about six years. I persevered and practiced every day and gradually became competant or reasonably so. I left that church in 1998 and then I had nowhere to play my guitar. I played for personal pleasure and have done ever since. I took a backward step and left off playing for five years in 1999 but resumed playing again in 2004. That is a total of 16 years playing now and I am so glad I continued with it because it gives me great pleasure and is very relaxing. I own a Fender accoustic guitar and it appears to be the envy of those who see it. I took it in for repairs to the ‘nut’. For those who are not guitarists, the nut is the band of ivory/plastic over which the strings pass as they leave the machine head…the part where the adjustments are made. While it was in the shop other customers wanted to buy it. Yes I love my guitar and now play it every day when I am able.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Hobbies, Music | Tagged: Activity, Hobbies, Music | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 31, 2009
Do you like books? Do you like to sit by the fireside and get engrossed in your favourite reading material? Do you like the feel of a good book on your lap and let your mind drift into it’s pages. Do you think computers will ever have the same effect on you? I have the Holy Bible in electronic form. The whole book is inside a small hand-held device which looks like a calculator at first glance but it holds all the pages of that book even so. I have the printed version too of course and I much prefer it. Somehow the electronic version is just not the same. Oh yes it is ideal for cross-referencing or finding a certian word or phrase in an instant but it needs to go a long way before it becomes as pleasant to hold as the printed version.
Shirley Anne x
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Posted in Books, Hobbies | Tagged: Books, Hobbies | 10 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 29, 2009
I was right. Today has been a lovely sunny day, a little cool when the clouds covered the sun and there was a slight breeze. Last night’s dinner was nice, I had been an invited guest to a local archery club social gathering. When I arose this morning I wasn’t hungry but simply got dressed and went out for a walk. I often do this at weekends, especially Sundays. I chose to take a stroll along the sea front, not far from where I live. There were not very many people out and about along the front, probably because it was a little cool in the sea breeze. I went as far as I needed and returned home along the promenade where there are planted sub-tropical palms and shrubs set in flower beds with plenty of colourful flowers in them. Yes, it is warm enough here for these trees. Native trees and shrubs are dotted around and many of them are in leaf, being evergreens. The surrounding grass was green and lush. The promenade is actually a quarter mile in from the sea front. At one end of the promenade was the usual gathering of bikers (motorcyclists) near the funhouse. There is an amazing amount of bikes to be seen there each week for the enthusiast. Leaving the prom. I walked toward home and passed through a local road called ‘Rotten Row’. This road runs alongside a public park where each year is held a major flower show for a few days in August and the road itself is full of floral displays in season, something which has been done for more than a hundred years. Half a mile more and I am back home and ready for something to eat. I like my weekend strolls and take them come rain or shine.
You can look up Southport in my ‘Information’ links section.
Shirley Anne x
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Posted in Hobbies, Nature | Tagged: Hobbies, Nature | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 11, 2009
Do you have a hobby or a special interest in something? A previous post was about too much TV but what would keep you away from it? I play guitar, write poetry and songs (less so these days, I must correct that), I like reading about history, I love astronomy and going for walks. There are always domestic duties too and then there is my work of course. I like to get out and wine and dine a couple of times a week and also visit the pub and chat with friends there. Now there is this blog to occupy myself with and my subscriptions to other people’s blogs. I like listening to music too so often the radio is on. Although I have a record collection, they are all vinyl and at this moment I am without a player. I plan to record them all to CD/DVD and I can store them on my comuter. I do have many stored there already which are not also on vinyl or CD. So I have many things to keep me occupied and as busy as I wish. Anything but sit and watch TV all night. By the way there’s a great film on the box later….LOL………
Shirley Anne x
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Posted in Hobbies | Tagged: Hobbies | 4 Comments »
