guitar

Sometime during the 8th grade, I started playing the guitar. Although I don't remember precisely why I began playing it, I believe it had something to do with the belief that girls liked guys who could play the guitar. That and the fact that my oldest brother played the guitar -- and what youngest child (me) doesn't worship his or her older siblings, right?

So, I started playing the guitar. I found some old "How to Play" books and learned all the basic chords and scales. I bought a really terrible, $75 hand-me-down Epiphone electric guitar from my brother and started plucking around on it. I endured through the soft finger tips and, while I never "played 'till they bled" -- like the real rock stars do -- I'll tell you those suckers really did hurt. But anyhow, I stuck with it through all that. Calluses came. Switching between chords got quicker and easier. Things improved.

Then, sometime during high school, I got into a sort of band thing along with some friends (what guitar playing teen doesn't, right?) and played at various youth gatherings. We did that for a few years, until everybody went and got married in college. At that point, the band pretty much stopped. It seems nothing puts the axe on a band like a girlfriend/wife. There is just no co-existence. But, dodging the whole marriage thing myself, I kept right on playing. And, while I at first though this would be a real bummer, it ended up being great, as I was able to devote more time to writing and recording my own stuff.

And now, here I am out of college and I'm still playing. Having stuck with the guitar for 8 years now, I can say that it's truly payed off. I have found so much joy from being able to play the guitar: it's a stress reliever, it's a source of entertainment and it's a creative outlet -- among other things. I love the instrument more than ever, and never find myself bored with it or out of new ideas. The future looks bright.

my accoustic guitar

my electric guitar