Hello everybody.
I’m Giovanni from Italy.
I’m a CTC member since 2018, but i’ve never written anything before. I’d like to share my story with you.
In november 2017 I had a cerebellar stroke that removed almost every movement of my right hand (especially fine manual skills). It was terribile and I struggled to have my (expecially guitar) movements back. During my hospitalization I came across a video of Troy Grady on the movements of the right hand and, listening to the doctors’ suggestion to carefully observe the movements in other guitar players’ videos in order to recover faster, I deepened the study. Then I became a CTC member and started learning guitar again (at least with one of my two hands).
Now I’m very glad to say that not only have I totally returned his movements to my right hand, but I know I play even better than before. Now I no longer think there are unattainable guitar goals. On the contrary, I like to think of a game, in which it is necessary to find the key to unlock certain situations.
The credit for all this, alongside my willpower, goes to the wonderful work of Troy and the CTC team. The words are not able to express all the gratitude that I feel at the moment, but at least it seems right to give it a try with this post.
Next to the need to express my gratitude, I decided to introduce myself because I started publishing some videos on youtube in which I run some bluegrass standards with the technique of downstroke escape (or upward pickslanting). I preferred it to the upstroke escape because I prefer the sound it produces on the acoustic guitar.
I’m not really (or at least not only) a bluegrass guy (I mostly play electric stuff), but this summer I happened to have a concert with two great Italian bluegrass musicians. Knowing that they often reach considerable speeds, I thought I’d be ready. It was a nice study opportunity.
I thought publishing these videos could be a way to help other guitarists get to know Troy and the work of the CTC Team (in fact I mentioned it in the video description).
This is the link of the first video:
Obviously any criticism or suggestion is welcome.
In wishing you all a good weekend, I would like to say, once again, my most sincere thanks to @Troy.
Thanks for your attention. See you soon.
Giovanni Manfredi