Part Two: Denmark Street

Lesson two was the following Monday.  I had managed to find my cheap guitar case and carefully placed my guitar in it. Walking to the car with my guitar case in hand I felt that I taken my first step on the infinite guitar ladder. Once again I felt incredibly nervous as I stood outside Max’s house – I could feel my heart beating strongly and I felt sick. I thought about how quickly I could run out of his front room and back into the street if I needed to vomit. I tapped on the door and thankfully my nerves soon disappeared as I stepped inside. I managed to play the simplest piece of homework quite well but messed up the second piece a bit, despite having previously played it well at home. It made me realise that it takes a while to get warmed up. Despite this, he seemed pleased with my progress.

I was shown some fourth string (D) notes, scales, a couple of simple tunes and my first look at 2-note power chords. 2-note power chords are played with the root and the fifth notes of the chord. So the E power chord, or E5, for example, is played by only strumming the bottom E string open and the fifth (A) string with your finger pressed down on the second fret. This gives you the notes E and B – played together you have E5 as B is the fifth note above E – E, A, D, G, and B. Next is the A power chord or A5. This is played by playing the fifth (A) string open and your finger down on the second fret of the fourth (D) string. This gives you the notes A and E – A5 as E is the fifth note above A – A, D, G, B and E. Thirdly I learnt D5.

That week’s practise went well, with at least an hour each day from Thursday to Sunday. The only night I didn’t practise much was Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, where my shortened 5 minutes of practise was met with very disapproving and disappointed looks from my girlfriend. I practised my week one pieces (first, second and third string notes, plus The Long Black Veil) before spending more time on my week two pieces (fourth string notes, E minor scale, G major scale,  Twinkle Twinkle, Danny Boy, Down in the Valley, Red Red Mountain, and E5, A5 and D5 power chords). It was a fun week’s practise and I particularly enjoyed playing the folk songs. Down in the Valley was recognised by Selina and she started whistling along, and whilst playing a power chords piece I was told that I ‘was definitely improving’. Good signs and it’s great to see the progress but it’s quite overwhelming the amount there still is to learn to become anywhere near a competent guitarist.

My guitar time had so far been limited to half an hour to an hour’s practise in the evening, and I wanted it to be a greater part of my life. I thought about finding a guitar shop and playing one of their guitars at lunchtime, so I searched online and found a guitar shop on Denmark Street in Holborn, about 10 minutes’ walk from where I work. The name seemed familiar but I didn’t think of why, and walked there one lunchtime.

 As I reached the street I saw the guitar shop I was looking for. Then I was shocked as I saw another, then another, a couple more, a drum shop, a vintage guitar shop, a saxophone shop, a couple of music shops and some more guitar shops. Denmark Street really is quite a sight. If you are a musician of any level and are in London then you must visit there; it’s quite amazing. Staring at some beautiful guitars in the many shop windows of this small side street I thought about what shop to go into. Most of the shops looked very cool, with knowing people inside, many of who had long hair and facial hair (such a cliché).  Immediately I dropped all thoughts of playing a guitar in any of these shops for a long time yet. I avoided the cool looking shops and went for the one that most looked like a high street store – Music Room. 

 IMAGE: Denmark Street music shops

As I walked into the shop a man was sitting on a stool and very beautifully playing an acoustic guitar. My heart melted. There is no better sound than an acoustic guitar being played well. That moment reinforced my decision to lean the guitar – if I could even come close to replicating that sound then I’d be very happy indeed. I looked at the many music books in the shop and then went downstairs to look at the guitars. They all looked beautiful and I was quite keen to have a go on one of the acoustics but declined when I was offered the chance, having lost my nerve. I bought a basic guitar workout book to supplement my lessons, plus a guitar lead and some plectrums, and then left, quite overwhelmed by the whole experience. That street is an amazing place and holds a lot of history having been the place where Elton John, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, amongst others, wrote and recorded some of their classic songs. But I walked away thinking that I would need quite a lot more guitar practise before I could walk down that street again…

Lessons learnt: 2 note E5, A5, D5 power chords; E minor and G major scales; some simple folk songs.