I’ve been quite shy about my pursuit of relearning guitar on my own, and have, in a self-depreciating tone, commented that “I’m a terrible runner and mediocre skater, why not suck at guitar too?”
I was starting to get down about my erratic timing, bum notes, and suspect melody, admitting I’m 100% enthusiasm and zero percent style. But then I saw the quote from Rickey above, and it reinforced mindset that I have the freedom to try. I went through the same thing with skating, striving for that adult nationals medal for validation, then relishing the freedom that afforded me to do the kind of skating I wanted to do, which made me a better skater.
I reclaimed my electric Fender Starcaster collecting dust in Will’s room, and Dave replaced the sixth string. I tuned it up and started playing pretty much nothing, since I had packed the songbooks for the trip up north. I felt relaxed. I had originally committed to 15 minutes a day but it has consistently been an hour or longer.
I have all the individual notes all figured out, which is a sweet victory since I stumbled over this as a kid. And I can tune my guitar on my own, thanks to a guitar tuner app. Is this cheating? No! I knew the fifth string didn’t sound right and figured it out on my own.
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