Miscellaneous

My 13-year-old son spent a handful of his Christmas cash on the Guitar Hero video game. The idea is to push buttons on the neck of a toy guitar in time while hitting a strummer as the notes from fairly well-known rock songs roll by on the screen. It's really not very musical but now I have a fall-back position if the lessons don't pay off ...

You have to be a really good guitarist to get away with wearing a hat like the one atop the fellow on the right. Of course, in his case it wasn't so much a hat as a crown.

Man Meets Guitar

For more than half a century I never played anything musical except the stereo (does the stereo really count? If so, I'm actually a very accomplished musician). But about three months ago I noticed how lonely my daughter's Washburn acoustic looked in the corner of her bedroom, where it had been in solitary confinement since she got it for Christmas two years ago.
I plinked the Washburn's strings a bit and it didn't object. There was no epiphany or magical moment for me but I did jump on the Internet and quickly picked up a couple of chords. After a few days of banging around on my own, I decided I could benefit from some coaching and signed up for lessons.

My wife was semi-stunned by such a show of ambition since I am not known for bold, pro-active acts of self-improvement (I'm sorta known for never making bold, pro-active acts of self-improvement, in fact). She showed her support by giving me a very nice leather guitar strap and a cool wooden guitar stand for Christmas. She has, however, already grown tired of jokes about the sanctity "my music" and how I won't be around the house all that much once I start gigging

My musical goal is modest -- I just want to amuse myself. If I can play a complete song a year from now, I'll be extremely satisfied. If my kids think it's cool that the old man is taking up the guitar, that would be nice too. I don't aspire to be Stevie Ray Vaughan -- Jimmy Reed, maybe -- and this site will be a chronicle of my progress.