A Dying Cat And A Nylon String Guitar

"Music isn't just learning notes and playing them, you learn notes to play to the music of your soul" - Katie Greenwood.

Why are you learning music anyway? Is it to pick up chicks? Is it to fulfill a void in your mundane life? Is it an indescribable calling?

I always wanted to learn the drums. I don't know why, maybe it's the aggressive nature of the things. You sit there and bash the crap out of them.

As fate would have it I shared a house with Dave, a guitar player, so I decided to learn the guitar as I had my very own teacher living in the next room. Or so I thought.

I went out and bought a nylon string classical guitar for $70. I didn't have a clue what I was doing but that never stopped me before.

So I went back home with my new guitar in its cardboard box. And with anything new, you want to play with it straight away, as soon as you get it home.

I also bought one of those guitar case chord dictionaries. You know the ones, they have a thousand chords in them and they are designed to confuse rather than actually help you.

So I waited for Dave to get home from work and as soon as he was in the door I was at him. "I bought this new guitar and I was wondering if you could show me how to play it" I said.

He just laughed at me but eventually agreed to show me which chords to learn first. He told me to learn the open chords A, D, E, G, and C. So I did. I spent every spare moment learning these chords.

Dave wouldn't show me any songs to play so I was forced to make up my own songs. This forced me to really explore every one of these chords as I thought at the time that I had to include them all in every song I wrote.

The songs I wrote were pretty strange to say the least. We were into punk music at that time so just imagine what a dying cat like vocals set to a nylon string out of tune guitar played as fast as a speeding train sounds like and you get the picture.

It sounded good to me at the time and I was very proud of my new found ability. It took about three months to get the hang of changing between the chords, and being able to write a song. (if you could call it that).

I didn't know it at the time but I had the one thing that was needed that would ensure I would become a good guitar player. That one thing was sheer bloody determination. And the more people told me how bad I sounded the more determined I became to improve.

So it doesn't matter how good or bad you are at the moment just play the music of your soul - even if it sounds like a cat being tortured. You will improve as long as you keep trying.

Here's a mental exercise for you. Fast forward your mind to 4 years from now. How good a guitar player will you be? The time will pass regardless of what you do. Are you going to keep at it? or are you going to give up? It's up to you. You will be four years older, but will you be four years wiser?

See ya next time

John Stockwell

What 'Other People' think

Here's an e-newsletter which I found interesting and encouraging. Just bear with some of the language used.

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What 'Other People' Think.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best" - Henry Van Dyke.

Good one, Henry. Are you afraid of sounding bad? Scared that someone might criticize your lack of talent? Worried what 'other people' will say about you?

If so, you are a loser, pure and simple, give yourself a slap around the head and, as my mother would say to me when I did something stupid, 'wake up to yourself!'

Who are these 'other people' anyway? And why is it that people live their lives caring about what 'other people' think. Can you imagine being a bird sitting up a tree and not singing because you thought the sparrow in the next tree would laugh, or tell the 'other birds' how bad a chirper you were.

It doesn't matter how good or bad you are as long as your are 'having a go'. You can only improve with time. Time is going to pass anyway, no matter how you choose to use it. You can sit there and do nothing or you can improve your talents. Who cares if you sound bad at the moment. Every guitar player at one time or another sounded like shit. In a years time you will be one year older, that's for sure. But will you be a better musician?

And as for those 'other people', tell them to go to hell.

See ya next time

John Stockwell