I think I started this ball rolling. I would not call myself a musician, but I do know some stuff about music, and can generally hear what chords are required in a song, or work it out on paper if required.

I lost the practice habit when neighbours started to go on about interflats noise, and a child was put in the spare bedroom next to mine, which was the only room without a sound channel to other properties. This will soon be rectified, and the keyboard, guitar and thumb piano come back into use.

But I also have a physical problem. I get to a certain level, and then practice fails. It's difficult to describe what I mean, the simplest way is to call it clumsiness. I just hit a wall, and however much I do, I don't improve. I get worse. I know I could not do the autoharp playing that others do, but I could use it to augment my singing, and get to use chords I can't manage on the guitar.

As for the guitar, there was an odd phenomenon with that. After learning some Spanish techniques with the right hand, I discovered that that hand developed ways of playing without my consciousness interfering, in just the way that the non-musical expect to be able to play, described above. Sounded good. I need to practice again to get back to that. Unfortunately, my left hand has no such abilities, and once removed from the key of G, which is now too high for my voice, is completely at sea. It is very very frustrating, and not solvable. There is this clumsy business at work.

Penny