Welcome Bert, I'm new here also and I really enjoy Devin's videos and think he did a fine job on the website. We're probably close in age (1951).

Welcome Bert.  I almost visited Blighty once, but then I heard about the dreaded lurgi. I hope you're staying way clear of that!  Speaking of dreadnoughts, maybe one is in your future?  Great for bluegrass and it would make a nice companion to your Baby Taylor.  

@roadog1951 Hi Clary, and thank you for the message.  Yes, I'm really looking forward to getting some practice in.  I was born in 1963 but I have had a hard life!  He he.

@jambongris Hi Michael, the dreaded lurgi is rife in these parts...usually caught by the web-footed locals who live in the hills.   I'd love a dreadnought but I really like the small scale of my Baby Taylor.  I will at some point have to get another one for spare when I'm gigging - I'm thinking that will most likely be an Eastman travel guitar as the sound of those are amazing for the money.  Although I'm not a proper guitarist yet, I'm lucky enough to have had a strum on some nice guitars owned by people I've worked with in bands.  On two occasions, I had a go on Collings acoustic guitars and the sound of those instruments are just incredible - I was afraid to pick them up in case I dropped them.  I have neither the talent nor the money ever to justify owning one though!

@bertiethedrummist Thanks for playing along with the "lurgi" reference Bert!  The Goon Show was a favourite of my Dad's and he liked the lurgi sketch the best.  I own a Taylor GS Mini so I'm very on board with your assessment of the shorter scale length being more user friendly than some of the bigger dreads.  Also agree with your regard for Eastman guitars as I've played a E10D and really liked the feel and sound it produced.  I hope your time spent here encourages you to devote more time to the "geetar" and maybe a little less with the "skins".

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Welcome Bert! Mandolins are awesome instruments; I'm sure the two of you are going to make some beautiful music together!

@jambongris Not forgetting Monty Python - they did some great stuff too.  Playing drums is definitely going to be taking second place as I've got a lot to learn with guitar but I remember, from being a kid, that those early days of learning are so much fun.  My biggest problem is going to be getting my head around the theory on a fretboard.  I see things in a linear way, so to me I see extended chords or modal chords as I would on a piano - usually either major or minor with mostly one extra/altered note, but a fretboard is just shapes.  Lots and lots of bloody shapes!

@texasjustice Wifey plays a bit of fiddle too so it'll be fun getting out there playing.

@bertiethedrummist I'm relatively new to guitar and early on found memorizing the fretboard and worrying about theory was all a bit daunting, which is why using guitar tablature notation to learn and memorize the pieces here at CGO is so much easier (for me) than using regular musical notation.  Maybe that's the lazy man's way, but I'd rather focus on playing technique and use the path of least resistance to learning the songs.  I grew up with Monty Python in the sixties and that style of humour was very different at the time and I really liked it.  Being Canadian, I really got a kick out of the Lumberjack sketch.  The Interview sketch with Graham Chapman and John Cleese has to be my favorite though.  Good night, a ding, ding, ding.

@jambongris I can read the the dots on piano but it stumps me on the guitar.  Like you, I've been reading tab and it's so much easier for me too.  Oh, and Canada...home of Cpt Kirk, my all-time hero.

@bertiethedrummist  Here's a YT video of an arrangement for guitar and mandolin of Over the Waterfall.  Devin has his own arrangement, but you may be able to figure out how to include your wife to accompany you in this song for which Devin has made a guitar lesson.  

@jambongris Thank you so much.  You're a star.