Forever an individual, I am self-taught for the most part. I never learned to read notes on a song sheets. Likewise, I never learned to play notes on guitar from musical notation.
However, I did learn to sing by singing along and singing by ear, often copying singer melodies from the hits of the day. I sang in choirs in high school and sang lead in an operetta once. I formed different folk groups, leading them, and singing lead vocals.
Likewise, I learned to play the basic major, minor and 7th chords on guitar from diagrams and some songbooks with chords visually shown. From that, I learned how to play the songs on the radio I grew up with through practice. In the groups I played in in high school and university, I gave the chords to the rest of the groups for them to accompany me.
Eventually I could stand up in front of audiences and sing and play by myself or with others. By the time I had stopped regular performances in 2002, I had played for thousands of people: adults and teens.
Later on, I learned how capos change keys and how to enunciate vocals better. I also learned how to play and use 6 and 12 string electric instruments and equipment. I also learned to play chords on 12 string and how to change keys to get the optimal singing keys rather than just singing in the keys of recorded singers on songs. I also learned fancier, jazz chords to play on guitar to get more accurate songs.
I wanted to play from a young age, and after a false start with a banjo during the ’60s Hootenany era in my teens, I settled in on guitar by 16. Later, in the 1970s, I started writing my own songs and have written about 25 in total which have been recorded for posterity. Some have been praised by the likes of Guess Who producer Jack Richardson, Glen Campbell’s manager, and Rita McNeil.
(far right between two spruce trees; the last gig I played in fall 2017 was of oldies for my daughter’s staff noon-hour picnic in a park.)