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Gee guys ,
   Everybody else stole my thunder here , but ditto , ditto , ditto .......
   When I used to give lessons, I always used what is now referred to as
" Suzzuki Method " ( you know , listen , then play what you've heard ) . I always found that after learning three major chords , most students could then play a wide variety of songs , and this was all it took to get them hooked . After that , the sky is the limit .
   Work hard at practice , but don't make it a chore.....it's supposed to be fun !!!!!!

When I first saw this topic,
I thought ," are you !!**&&??
kidding me , that was 45 years ago . But then I thought for about 30 seconds
and remembered . The first thing I learned was how to pick " Walk the Line " , but the first song I learned start to finish , was a song called
" You Can't Grow Peaches On
a Cherry Tree " because my two older sisters ( who were superb singers at the time ),
wanted to sing it .
   Funny , maybe our first song is like so many other things , you never forget your first...........

I used to have this problem , mine always seemed to want to rotate 90
degrees . Bummer when you're playing along and come up to that spot where you're supposed to deliver that little lead line and suddenly you have no tip to work with .
   I also use the dunlops , but I've been using the
" snot " for years . The other guys give my crap , but you don't see me  fumbling
around to grab another pick either .

Hey Nela ,
   I'm gonna tell ( what's your phone number ? )
   When I started playing, girls were not a distraction yet . I learned most of what I know before that and after the worst of it . Roy Clark claims to have learned most of what he knows before women became a distraction .
   I play for the reason most people do , the love of making music.................

I love this topic ,
   I have been playing for about 45 years , and I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 songs at my fingertips ( mentally speaking ) . Sometimes at jams , I'll pop up with one that no one has heard for years and get through it without a hitch . Everybody is like , how the heck do you remember all these songs .
For me it has always come easy , don't know why .
That's not to say I don't have my share of "senior moments".
   When learning new ones though , upyerkilt and I have the same formula . Practice and practice ......I often will take one I'm working on and throw it in the truck when I get ready to leave for my jobs . I'll sing it all day as I'm working . If I get stuck on lyrics , i'll stop untill I can look at the sheet again , it seems like if you do it wrong more than once or twice , it will try to repeat every time you sing it so make sure you have the correct lyrics with you .
    With my own songs , since I always write the lyrics first,
then the melody , sometimes
the chords will escape me the first few times .
But PRACTICE , PRACTICE ...

Hi cor h ,
   I did , ( kinda ) it was in my grouping of minors . LRL

Thanks Doc ,
    I have also used electrics on accoustic and it worked fine ( I suppose because the bridge saddle still picks up the hertian waves ) .
   Just being me , I'm still going to have to try this , and will post if I learn something interesting ..........

Hi guys ,
   Had to put my two cents in on this one .
   Shredfiend is right about not messing with the truss rod unless there is a need to do so , but , a guitar neck should not be straight . It should actually be bowed slightly to provide relief , usually measured at the 5th , 7th , 9th ( and so on )
frets . There are specs for this, but would have to get out my reference manual .
   Also the truss rod should never be used to adjust action . That is done at the bridge . Most electrics are easily adjustable and on accoustics you do this by raising or lowering the bridge saddle . to raise it you can either replace the saddle or shim it , to lower them I clamp them in the milling machine and I can remove as little or as much as needed
If you use any other method for this , you must be sure that the bottom is perfectly flat when you are done or the tone will suffer .
Again , just my two cents ,
" for what it's worth " ( hey
isn't that a song )

Hi guys ,
    This also sounds like it could be an intonation issue .
You didn't say if it was electric
or accoustic . Most electrics have individually adjustable
bridge saddles . You can check this by tuning that string to open E ( as mentioned , make sure your tuner is set at 440 htz ) ,then
fret the string at the 12th fret
and it should be right on E ,
just an octive higher . You can also check that harmonic but usually you won't need to . If it is sharp , you will need to lengthen the string by adjusting the saddle back toward the tail piece , or if flat , go the other way .
hope this helps ........

Wow , twenty years ago ?
Are you and old timer too ?That must have been a traumatic experience for you,
( and a Martin too .) I bet you still have nightmares about that one .
   My first was a Stella flat top that was old when I got it ( forty five years ago when I was ten yrs old , I guess that dates me  ) .Knowing what I know now it was an awfull guitar , but I did'nt know the difference at the time . To me it was the holy grail . I learned a lot of what I know on that guitar . That was untill my two older sisters
were playing piggy back in the living room and fell on it when I had it sitting in a chair
smashed the top in .
( I think they were just mad because I had more sisters than they did....... )