Why I Learned to Play Guitar and the Importance of Music in Life - (Rough Draft)

                                                                                                        

I began learning to play guitar when I had just turned 13 years old.  Around my 13^th birthday, I was given a small trust fund for around $500 dollars. With that money, I bought my first guitar which was kind of a beat up old electric that looked like the 1980’s threw up all over it, smashed it into pieces, and then reassembled it before it was sold as “slightly used” in a local pawn shop. I treated it worse than our family cat, which proved fatal for the guitar. Don’t worry, the cat is long dead but it had nothing to do with me. He died in his sleep according to the doctors and they were never able to prove otherwise. 

A big reason that I became interested in learning to play music was because my Mom taught me some basic piano when I was young and the majority of my family was involved with music in some way. My Mom was a classical pianist who played quite often while I was young and I can still remember her playing Chariots of Fire as I listened intently from the other room. I idolized my Uncle Bob who was in a band in Santa Cruz, and other members of my family like my Mom and her siblings who were gifted with music in one way or another. My Aunt Lisa sung the national anthem several times at professional baseball games when I was really young and I loved watching her sing. It was my family that helped establish my love of music and inspired me to continue learning how to play and that process has been on going for almost 20 years.

I suppose that it all started with my Grandpa who sung Frank Sinatra and similar artists from a young age and involved his children heavily into learning and performing music. My Grandpa used to record music with my Mom and her siblings on vinyl while they were still young.  He was featured recently on a local news morning show about his love for doing karaoke and the fact that he is 90 years old and still performs 2 or 3 times a week. The biggest reason that my Mom’s entire side of the family is musically inclined in one way or another, is most likely due to my Grandfather.  Even at his age, he has so much energy and charm, that he gets fully decked out in his Sinatra style suit, belts out his vocals, and dances like a much younger man. Thinking of him, I am reminded of many Christmases where my family would get together and sing holiday songs. I remember my Grandma enjoying time with her children and grandchildren while clapping and with a huge smile on her face as everyone sung Winter Wonderland accompanied by my Mom playing piano. Those times were among my greatest memories I have growing up.

               

              My Dad passed away when I was 12 and it was the saddest part of my life. I had a difficult time for many years after his death and I think music helped me cope with the loss. Not too long after he passed, I heard from my Mom that he used to play Spanish guitar songs to her when they first started dating. I never actually saw my dad play, but looking back I would like to think that my decision to play guitar was influenced, at least in some way, by him. Often I think about how awesome it would have been if we would have had a chance to learn and write songs together. My dad was a very loving and intelligent person and gave his all to everything he did so I would imagine he was probably an amazing musician.

After a few years had passed by since my Dad’s death and before YoutTube existed, I ordered instructional videos on how to learn guitar and they helped me with some of the basic mechanics. However, over the years I became more self-reliant and I would start to pick up things on my own.  More often than not, I could be found sitting in my bedroom following along on my electric guitar to old school Metallica and Nirvana playing on the stereo. I would lock myself in my room until my guitar sounded like it was perfectly in sync with theirs. My friends would come over and play video games in the living room while I was locked in my room learning something new on the guitar as I played for hours on end. I remember I used to get so mad when I couldn't figure something out, so much that I would become anti-social and would play the same thing over and over again until it sounded exactly(at least to me) the same as the song playing on my stereo system.

Once I started playing with other musicians, I found myself learning from them as we jammed. I would pick up little things from each person every time we played and eventually would combine those things I learned into my own style. A lot of the people that I learned from when I was younger were not very good musicians at all, but some of the things they taught me were invaluable. Learning something new can come from people you wouldn’t expect and even while you are helping other people to learn to play guitar, you can pick up skills from them you may not have known before. Everyone plays a little different so no matter what skill level you might be at, you may still have something to teach.

In high school my taste in music slowly began to change and I started learning acoustic guitar riffs from bands like Ben Harper and Jack Johnson.  While learning songs by these artists I only recently had started listening to, I also grew to love the acoustic guitar. It’s been over 10 years since I switched to acoustic and I have been playing nearly every day since. Recently I was in a band called “Will Work for Food” with my cousin Chris. We recorded songs we had written on an android phone with an app called “Tape Machine”. The sound actually came out decent and we uploaded the songs to a music profile online. A few people commented on how good the sound quality came out after being recorded on a cell phone. Chris and I joked about recording an album all in cell phone recordings. 

Learning to play guitar is a long, never-ending journey that can be trying at times. The first few years take a toll as you have to accomplish obstacles both mentally and physically. I used to play for so long that the tips of my fingers would nearly bleed and, after a long session of playing, trying to play the next few days would be very painful to say the least. It takes years to build the calluses and the dexterity in your fingers and if you stop for any extended period of time, it can cause you to have to rebuild both. It is best to realize from the time you start learning that it is a life long commitment if you truly want to get the pleasure out of playing an instrument.

Mentally, there can be plenty of hurdles to overcome as well. I knew people who had ticks, like contracting their lips or tightening the muscles in their neck. For me, I had to constantly look at my right hand to ensure that it was actually doing what I wanted it to. Eventually that same tick would switch to the left hand to ensure I was holding the frets in the correct position, or to watch as I moved up the fret board in different positions.  Those ticks eventually subside as your brain adjusts to operating your body parts independently of each other. After a while, you can concentrate on other things like singing or different picking sounds as you get more comfortable playing guitar.

I play my guitar everyday and I couldn’t imagine not having music as a part of my life. My plan is to continue to learn throughout my life and hopefully pass my love for playing an instrument down to my children. Along with family, friends, a good education and a career, music is one of the most vital parts of being a human being. I feel the world as a whole would be a much better place if we all could have one giant jam session!