Bill's first time learning the guitar.

my autumn love · **Joined:** Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:16 pm **Posts:** 11

I've always wondered seeing as Bill is self taught.How in the world did he do this?We must all remember that this was long ago and far away in a time way before youtube tutorials.If you've ever had the misfortune to stumble across old "How to play guitar" books from the 50s or early 60s,you'll be quite aware of how unhelpful those supposed manuals really were!I seem to recall him mentioning slowing down the records to match what Duane or Hank was playing.But there must be more to it than that!Did he learn the delightfully boring scales that are apparently a must?As there was no teacher around,how did he know what to play and not play?I also wonder how long it took him to achieve the, "Ah ha,I'm really quite a decent guitarist!" moment!
Additionally, in Bill's book,he mentioned getting a Fender Jaguar(Is that right?) as a X-mas gift.I was quite curious though,there was no mention of an amplifier at all!Did his father present him with an electric guitar WITHOUT an amp?Very curious indeed!Where did he go to get his first amp,which brand etc,which wattage....
Sorry for so many questions- something about cats and curiosity i believe?? Anyway,thanks in advance!!

felixt1 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:58 am

Welcome to Dreamsville, my autumn love

Bill Nelson · **Joined:** Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:40 pm **Posts:** 8463

My very first attempt at guitar playing was quite bizzarre. My brother Ian had been given a small toy guitar made from plastic. It had 4 coloured strings on it made from some sort of nylon/plastic material. I picked it up and started to plink around on the strings. For some reason I realised that you could get different notes by placing the fingers of the left hand at different frets. As I placed a finger at the first fret, then, second, then third, I was pleased to discover it sounded like 'The Third Man' theme! I continued in this fashion for a couple of days, just being happy to hear the different pitches emerging as I moved my finger across the frets of one string.

Then my father, who had once played banjo and uke in his youth, noticed my enthusiasm and tuned the 4 strings of the toy guitar to banjo-uke pitch and showed me three simple ukelele chords. Soon I was strumming away at these with a passable semblance of rhythm. Dad then decided it might be worthwhile to buy me a guitar of my own...but what he bought me was sort of half-way between a proper guitar and a toy. It was a plastic 'Elvis Presley' guitar made by a company called Selcol. It had wire strings although they were not 'proper' guitar strings. And it wasn't a full sized instrument. Nevertheless, it occupied many an hour in my bedroom. Then dad decided I should have a 'real' guitar and bought me a second-hand 'Zenith' archtop in a golden-tobacco sunburst finish. This was purely acoustic. It was also a full sized instrument and had strings that seemed as thick as pencils. It was such a leap from the plastic 'Elvis' guitar and quite a shock as the physical strength to get a note out of it was much harder. I messed around a little with the Zenith but my fingers got so sore that it became somewhat abandoned in a corner of my room for a while. But discovering Duane Eddy's 'Because They're Young' inspired me to continue and I managed to work out the basic theme of that tune.

Then meeting Ian Parkin at school gave another kick forward in that he and I were at a similar stage of learning, but Ian had an electric guitar.
We would spend every evening after school trying to figure out tunes on our guitars by listening to records and slowing 45 rpm ones down to 33 to work out the notes by ear. And, bit by bit, that was how we learned to play. I was never taught or practiced scales as such...it was just learning tunes from records and attempts at making chord shapes. All by ear.

My father eventually bought me an electric guitar for Christmas. It wasn't a Fender Jaguar...it was a Japanese Antoria solid body. But it had a sort of Fender Jaguar style shape. I think there's a photo' of me with it in volume one of my autobiography.

Initially, I didn't have an amp for it but I eventually bought a second-hand Rosetti 'Lucky Seven' amp which, whilst not very powerful, at least allowed me to work on my electric sound. And things gradually progressed from there, forming a little trio called 'The Cosmonauts,' learning more tunes from records by The Shadows and The Ventures, etc. Just simple, step by step advances but, at the time, very exciting ones. My enthusiasm for the guitar has never really waned over all these years...and I'm still nowhere near achiving my goals. It's like the first time again, everytime I open my guitar case.

Mr. Mercury · **Posted:** Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:42 pm

Bill Nelson wrote:

Initially, I didn't have an amp for it but I eventually bought a second-hand Rosetti 'Lucky Seven' amp which, whilst not very powerful, at least allowed me to work on my electric sound.

There was always the 'pressing the headstock against the door' method to make it louder :wink:

Brassneck · **Posted:** Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:03 pm

any chance of cosmonots stuf at nelsonica ?

Bill Nelson · **Joined:** Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:40 pm **Posts:** 8463

Brassneck wrote:

any chance of cosmonots stuf at nelsonica ?

Unfortunately, apart from the photograph of the band reproduced in my autobiography and a Cosmonauts 'business' card, (the latter an extreme rarity as it's the only surviving copy,) there are no other items relating to the band at all. We were just schoolboys and it's a very long time ago...we were never able to record either so I'm afraid there's nothing more of The Cosmonauts to present to fans, either here or at Nelsonica.

Brassneck · **Posted:** Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:37 pm

..apart from you

Puzzleoyster · **Posted:** Thu Jun 28, 2012 11:51 pm

Bill Nelson wrote:

Brassneck wrote:

any chance of cosmonauts stuff at nelsonica ?

Unfortunately, apart from the photograph of the band reproduced in my autobiography

For us, not on the beamers, is there a copy of said autobiog, in the Nelsonica 12 Raffle?

wonder toy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:12 pm

Was it this one with a buy it now price of $3,999.95 on eekbay? :shock:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1956-Selcol-Elv ... 0465528210

couldn't find a 6 string version.

wonder toy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:50 pm

Someone got lucky at 75 pounds. :shock:

http://www.gerrardsauctionrooms.com/Bid ... otRef=951#

www.billnelson.com

Bill's first time learning the guitar.

Who is online