She Wrote the Book on Fakin' It

She brought the guitar into vogue. She created the firstsimply did not possess the skills to do so. She had the
"fake" books designed for regular folks who didn'tsolution, which came in the form of several publications.
want to or were unable to invest the time and effortHer most popular and successful manual, Learning the
to master the guitar. Who was she?CatherinaGuitar Simplified, included easy exercises, each of
Josepha Pelzer was born in 1821 in Mulheim, on thewhich was followed by a simple song, along with
Rhine. She was the daughter of Ferdinand Pelzer, adiagrams of the fingerboard to show where the notes
leading German guitarist during the early part of thewere found. She created another publication that
19th Century. Ferdinand began tutoring his daughtercolor-coded each note in the diatonic scale. This was
when she was quite young - a task made easier byknown, logically enough, as Colored Diagrams of the
the fact that young Catherina was quite the musicalNotes of the Fingerboard of the Guitar. And for those
prodigy. She made her London concert debut at thewho had very little time to practice, she put together
age of seven. Soon after, her family moved fromInstructions for the Guitar Tuned in E Major. One tuning.
Germany to England where she received much criticalNo muss, no fuss.Mme. Pratten died in 1895, leaving
acclaim and gained fame as a performer. Herbehind a wonderful legacy. She had brought the guitar
concerts and recitals inspired people all over to pick upinto popularity by showing the world how beautifully it
the guitar. Catherina later became much sought aftercould be played and by making it easier for the
as a guitar teacher, instructing the likes of theaverage person to play it well - or at least close
Princesses Louise and Beatrice, among others. In 1854enough for rock and roll.Alyce Chiles is the manager
Catherina Pelzer married a renowned flautist andand official "appraisal typer-upper" of - a site for the
composer, and took the name by which she is morevintage guitar enthusiast specializing in online guitar
commonly remembered - Madame Sidneyappraisals and vintage guitars in general. On the side
Pratten.After some time as an instructor, she realizedshe also writes freelance articles on everything from
that many people were not inclined to invest theProzac to Parenting.
necessary effort to master the guitar. Many others