So the backstory of this is I play several stringed instruments, I'm an amateur although I was taught by some well known (older) names in the Country and Bluegrass genre of music and in years past have been in some jam sessions with some very respected names in those genres.

So around 4-5 months ago the now ten year old comes up to me and tells me she wants to play the violin. In the same breath she tells me that I can't teacher her because I play the fiddle and not a violin. Okay so it took some time of playing some boringly slow songs to convince her that they were the same thing, but then I had a week before the violin I ordered for her came in anyway.

Another thing I should say is I can't read a note of music, I was taught to play by ear. Although I did eventually learn to read and write tablature. So I taught her how to read tablature and set about finding the notes by ear and putting them down on tablature for several easier songs I thought she might be interested in learning. As it had been near 20 years since I picked up any instrument I began working on locating or writing down tablature for songs I liked and knocking the rust off my abilities.

So I Finally begin teaching her violin, of course she finds it rather difficult since she had never play any instrument before. She begins to give up, but in her own special way by telling me I should get my guitar out of the closet and maybe she can learn that. I literally had not taken it out of its case in 30 years so I take it down to a luthier and have it gone through, where I fell in love with a new all mahogany 6 string that followed me home (after the initial removal of funds from my checking account to compensate the store for giving me such a beautiful instrument).

So to keep track I now have 3 violins, 2 guitars and 1 banjo (That I'm afraid of anyone breathing on wrong due to being 100 years old and very very rare)

Okay so even though she is big for a ten year old (5'2" tall and is mistaken for a teen a lot) she says my dreadnought size guitars are too big for her to use, so I buy a 3/4 sized parlor guitar. A nice little Yamaha as I love Yamaha guitars as they play good, sound great and are priced half of what a compatible guitar is.

So that comes in and she is really doing good although she does not even want to try using chords, she wants to finger pick like I do. So I begin teaching her simple flat picking, She still picks up the violin at times but seems to concentrate mostly on guitar and wants one to take home to practice. So I buy her a used washburn 1/2 scale guitar to take home with her.

Are we still keeping track? 4 guitars, 3 violins and 1 rare antique banjo.

So on this online auction site, I lose on an item I wanted because my password would not work when I went to increase a bid. Getting that corrected I put a bid of 10 bucks on a 3/4 violin that had 5 days to go in auction, knowing someone would out bid me sometimes during the time it was up for auction. I guess saying I bought a violin for $9.99 is something I should brag about, but honestly I didn't want another one. But okay so she has one of those to take home with her too.

So now I have , 4 violins, 4 guitars and 1 rare antique banjo...LOL

So her mother says she would like to learns the guitar too, So I buy her a used one on the auction site. Oh and I began looking for a used 12 string guitar (what was my main instrument back in the day) and found one in a pawn shop that I liked and bought.

So now I have 6 guitars, 4 violins and 1 rare antique banjo. Starting to sound like the twelve days of musical instruments now isn't it? But we are not done yet!

The ten year old keeps pestering me about my banjo. I love her to death but she AIN'T touching my banjo! My solution, I buy a used one from a pawn shop. It isn't one I would brag about but it plays okay and will be fine for her to learn and she does sit and practice the open finger rolls I teach her.

Now old age and an old shoulder injury makes it difficult for me to play a violin for more than one song so I can't play along with her for very long like she likes when she is practicing the Violin. My solution, the Mandolin is tuned exactly like a Violin and since it is held like a guitar or banjo the shoulder injury does not bother me. and since it is tuned and played like a violin I can play it along with her. Oh and she loves dragons and I found this really cool Luna guitar that has a mural painted on it of a cartoon dragon and castle I'm giving her for Christmas.

So I now have 7 guitars, 4 violins, 2 banjos and one Mandolin.

Oh and the funniest thing as she practiced her violin today. She has decided fiddle music is more fun and spent an hour or more practicing the song Cripple Creek... LOL