Man I miss Hee Haw. Kidding. It was a cool show and everything, good for a laugh and something that I'll hover over still, while channel surfing. Whatever happened to that show? I don't think it was ever cancelled, think one day nobody showed up anymore cuz they were passed on or in an old folks home. Hee Haw was one of those "marker shows" - it came on at like 7:00 or something on a Saturday night back in the day, when it was on, you knew that it was the start of the end of the weekend. Like on Friday nights, my Mom would watch Falcon Crest and Dallas, we'd watch too, not because we liked it, but because she would probably make popcorn and we'd get to eat most of it. Those shows marked the start of the weekend.
Where was I though? Oh yeah, nowhere yet. I kind of hinted at the subject in the title, but where I was going with this was that about 5 years ago I bought this guitar. Nothing fancy, bout a $120 Fender Squire 6 string. I was gonna learn to play the damn guitar. Growing up, my dad played guitar and he was pretty good. I think before 7 kids he had a band and rocked the greater Renville and Bottineau County area on weekends, but by the time we were old enough to listen he more or less did weddings and funerals, maybe Bar Mitvah's if there had been any Jewish population in the area, which there wasn't. He had a fairly wide selection that he'd play for us, Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown", The Batman Theme Song, The Gatlin Brothers "Midnight Choir". Leroy Brown and Midnight Choir stick out in my mind because if we sang along we got to say 'damn' and 'hell' without fear of retribution, which for an 8 year old is pretty cool.
Anyways, I would ask him from time to time how he learned to play. Said he taught himself as a kid, heard notes and strummed and changed fingering until it sounded right, put the notes together and formed songs. Simple enough I thought. I figured one day when I had an hour or two to spare I'd teach myself as well. That day came about 5 years ago. I bought the guitar, which came with this nice little "How to Play Guitar: The Fender Method". Damn!! Double bonus! I can cut my leaning time down to a 1/2 and hour and be impressing chicks at house parties by the weekend.
Page one: Welcome. Skip it.
Page two: Chords. Okay, G........ strum. Sounds good. Okay, C.......... strum. Sounds good.
Page three: First song. "Mary Had a Little Lamb". G,C,D,C,G,C,G,D. Piece 'O cake!!
Pages four to the end: Bunch of stupid songs that nobody will ever want to hear. Skip all of them and lets go to the internet to find guitar tab for Stairway to Heaven.
"Shit...... This is hard." Ok, lets stay away from Zepplin. How bout some George Strait. Chicks will dig a good George Strait ballad........ "Wow, this is really hard". "Ok, Duke is on ESPN, we'll learn the guitar tomorrow night."
Thats pretty much how the last 5 years have went. Brief periods of concentrated learning, followed by aggravation and layers of dust collecting on the guitar. I can struggle through a few songs. Kenny Rogers "Lucille", Staind "Excess Baggage", a Hootie and the Blowfish song or two and the intro to Dueling Banjos. Thats the extent of it.
I don't get it either! I'm not a great athlete, but isn't music kind of like sports? Hand/eye coordination, timing? When I was little, I picked up a ball and threw it. When someone pitched me a ball, I hit it. When someone showed me how to grip a football it went in a spiral. How does some no talent like Eric Clapton get off being able to pound out "Tears in Heaven"!?!? Ahhhhhh....... there's the rub! He learned early and practiced and practiced some more. My tone deafness and lack of timing on a four count rhythm is where I'm missing out! But my real issue is my lack of dedication.
The question then. Can a 35 year old man learn the guitar still? I would love to be able to play someday, cuz I think my kid would like to hear music and kids should be exposed to it so they can decide for themselves if they like it or not. My New Years resolution is to at least try.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crush my high score on Guitar Hero II for "Sweet Child of Mine" and then maybe Metallica "One". I hope Guitar Hero: World Tour has "Stairway to Heaven" on it cuz I will crush that too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment