Newest Member of the Family

 

So proud of Patch, now a thirteen-year-old Middle Schooler on her way to High School in ten months! She saved up all her allowance money, plus the money we’ve paid her for doing odds and ends and projects she promoted to us since we’ve moved down her to Texas, and decided to buy this little guitar, to the right of mine in the picture above.

Wow!

At first, two weeks ago out of the blue, she sprung on me that she wanted to buy a ukulele she saw hanging in the music store we frequent every now and then when they need reeds for their school instruments or I need a new gadget for my electric guitar setup. Why a ukulele? Well, she tried my acoustic guitar and thought it was too big for her hands. She wants to play guitar eventually, as two of her good friends do, and she thought a uke would be a good stepping stone.

When we got to the store yesterday, we discovered the price was $20 more – $90 – than advertised on the pic she took. Turns out it was on sale back then, but that was over. Now, rather than haggling over price with the sales staff (I’m not a good haggler), I spotted a small starter guitar for $110 hanging on the wall. Well, it took little effort to convince her on purchasing the more expensive (and better) product, especially since I sweetened the pot by stating I would throw in $10 plus pay for the sales tax and a bag of picks, so she’d only have to put up a cool C-note. She agreed.

Last night I taught her the names of the strings, the G-chord, the D-chord, and a simple blues progression. Oh, and the notes for “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” That’s it for now. Maybe in a week I’ll teach her how to tune it, and maybe the E and C chords. She’s a personality that has to be pulled, not pushed.

But I did give her this ultimatum: I want her to be able to play songs with me this time next year.