A Million Miles to Go...

or... Swallow Your Pride and Just Play.

On an otherwise gray, rainy and dreary evening, brother Dave and Lori came over to have dinner with us and spend the evening. We had popped by their house earlier in the day, and I had said to Dave that he should bring one of his guitars with him when they came over. I have said similar things in the past, and have been honestly somewhat relieved when he has not actually done so. This is because I own a relatively nice guitar and have no idea how to play it in any real sense of the word, while Dave has gone to the effort of learning how to play his and now plays quite well. It's not a question of embarrassment or anything like that, just a recognition that I don't know how to play anything beyond the most basic strumming of a few chords. I love music in general, and really like the idea of being able to create (or recreate) some music, but do not have the ability to do so at this point.

The best way I can summarize my guitar experience is that I love the idea of playing guitar. Like most other things of value in life, this kind of skill isn't going to drop out of the sky, but must be earned. For various reasons (time commitment, too many interests, etc..), I have never bothered to take the time to learn that skill. I think that I have a very good feel for music, but do not have the education or training to match my interest level, and my understanding of even the most basic music theory from years gone by has faded.

That being said, Dave and Lori came over for a nice dinner, and then Dave actually got his Fender Telecaster and his amplifier out of the car and brought them in. Which created that awkward moment for me; Dave wanted to play around and I had no idea how. With a substantial amount of trepidation mixed with excitement, I got out my Fender Stratocaster 1970's copy (pictured above), and we played... if you can call it that. And strangely enough, I think you can.

To make a long story short, and to avoid dwelling on my feelings of great inadequacy along the way, we had a good time messing around with a few different songs, such as "After Midnight", the Moody Blues' "Tuesday Afternoon", and the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar". I am a total hack; that much is true. But I have a hard time putting into words how much fun it was to play a few things that actually sounded like the songs that they were intended to be. Our playing was generally limited to Dave instructing me on a few basic chords and then me fumbling along on the rhythm guitar part while he took the lead, but still... it sounded like music, and it made me happy.

Which leads me to the following conclusions:

• I love music, and the idea of being able to make music, however clumsily.
• I do own a very nice guitar, because when Dave plays it, it sounds fantastic!
• If I ever do hope to be able to play at even a competent beginner level, I need to learn my chords. Learn them cold. They are the building blocks that are the foundation of everything. And as Dave has rightly pointed out, there are a wealth of songs out there that are fundamentally three chord songs.
• Dave and I need to do this again soon, and I need to swallow my pride and be prepared to be terrible for a while in the hopes of being better at some point in the future. You have to start somewhere, and I have never really started.

This was humbling, but it was tremendous fun. Thanks Dave!