Well, this has been a long time coming, after reading through some of the other logs I am not sure mine will be of any interest, but here it is:
My guitar journey started long ago, now 73 and the first time I was introduced to the instrument was when my sisters then husband played in a band. being somewhat in awe, he showed my some chords. However, at the time being around 12 or so and already having experience of singing in bands and so on, it never stuck, preferring my role as a front man.
Many bands and other experiences, art school, marriage too young, Morocco for three months, Spain for two, and onto London for a year, to name a few: Cut to 15 years later and we, my good lady Helen and myself were in Germany after walking into the country from France owing to missing the Vandage. We secured a temporary job in an hotel where we also had accommodation. There in one of the rooms an old beat up classical guitar was found, and here I am still playing, not that particular instrument but others as some of you will have seen.
So the learning began, bought a copy of ‘Teach Yourself Classical Guitar’ by Alfred Noad and off I went. Being in Germany and not knowing many people we had a lot of time to ourselves and I persevered with my new found passion, though knowing little of classical music and what to learn. Understand this is long before the internet and so my own devices sufficed. It was eclectic to say the least, my good lady put up with my noise though and eventually it began to sound less like cats fighting to something resembling, an attempt at playing an instrument.
Then more life happened: we departed from the Black Forest, a beautiful area, and headed for Amsterdam, where in those days it was referred to by many as the ‘enfant terrible’ of Europe, and we had fun! To the extent of remaining for 10 years, Lara was born there. Consequently guitar was not forgotten, but no real attempt was made to learn much of anything.
So after some time and many more experiences, we moved back to the UK and opened a restaurant. Not much guitar again, as that was hard work. So we fast forward to another life becoming involved in Youth Work, and returning to an interest in guitar. by this time Justin Guitar had been found, I still have DVDs of some of his courses, and I was finding something to hold onto in terms of guitar teaching. But still not enough dedication to the process.
More life changes and back up North nearer to family, which was a good thing as it happens as my son from the first marriage was consumed by cancer. Three years prior to this event, Lara was married and at the time Justin had mentioned a book he had read in a newsletter, “Bounce’, wherein it was posited, is talent innate or is it learned? The figure of 10,000 hours was said to be the point at which one is able to call one a something, musician or ??? Anyway, at Lara and Johns wedding I decided to try to play 10,000 hours and see if in my case I would become a musician.
I honestly do not know the answer to that question: I have calculated that my playing thus far in total amounts to 8,742 hours so far, now playing daily for around two hours. I am aware of many failings and my brain does not do structured learning well. Playing guitar is hard, but without having the means to express myself or simply lose myself in music would, I feel render me insane, no joke. Guitar has enabled me to sustain some semblance of sanity through some dark times, for that and Justin I will always be thankful .
So that is it for this instalment, but please do not hold your breath for the next one yet. If this brings any form of support in any way, I am pleased, play guitar, or any instrument, life is too short, live it with music.
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