I’m very pleased to report that, at last, I have an acoustic guitar that is playable; debates may rage for years about whether I can actually play it, but it’s undeniable that someone more competent than me could probably bash out a good tune.

My old acoustic guitar has been with me since my undergrad days, when I had to trade my red denim jacket for it (eeh, money was tight back then). Even then the old thing wasn’t particularly good – it was only Tim’s unused reserve guitar. Guitar players among you will most probably wince if I go into detail about it’s vertigo inducing action. Non-guitar playing readers can be satisfied in knowing that it was “a bugger” to play and would often stray out of tune before the end of a single “song”.

It is necessary to put “song” in quotes when describing my old guitar, because it really is that bad.

My requirements for the new guitar were simple; I wanted a guitar that would make a nice sound, be comfortable to play, and one that could perhaps cope with my undainty fingers. It also had to be a guitar that fits in with my preferred musical styles and authors. And most important it needed to be “not impossible” to keep in tune.

I thought “maybe a 12 string, if they’re not too hard to keep tuned”. So I went to the shop, and tried a couple on, both 6 and 12 sting models. The 12 string they happend to have was remarkably affordable (i.e. not exactly hand crafted, but with all the bits in the right place) and it made a jolly nice sound, even when I twanged it. So I got one, and so far, I’m hooked.

Thus far I’ve been rattling my way through Beatles, Pink Floyd, Tenatious D, Eagles, Green Day, Travis, Turin Brakes, Electronic, Supergrass, Lenny Kravitz and the Toy Dolls. It makes waiting for the kettle to boil a more tuneful break from the computer keyboard.

In case you’re not familar with the Toy Dolls and their infamous version of Nellie the Elephant, here it is: