be a better guitarist

I started to learn the guitar late, and after I went on my Iraq deployment, I could barely hit a C Chord. I need to get back on it, so I am playing the blues by age 40.

I think I’m good enough to consider this goal accomplished

i had an epiphany the other day.

i was at the movies with ralph the other night and i turned to him and said, you know what? i like playing the guitar. and he said, good! and then i said, but there’s so much stuff for me to work on until i get really good at it and he said, it’s like that for everyone that plays. there will always be so much stuff to work on until you get really good at it. that will never stop.

i thought, wow. i’m in a constant state of “getting better” but that is everything, really. that’s life—if you’re working at it. everything that’s worthwhile requires discipline and sacrifice and hard work, whether i want to learn how to knit or lose 10 pounds or play bar chords or have a satisfying loving relationship with someone. there are no short cuts.

somewhere down the line, you have to put your shoulder to the wheel. but everything doesn’t begin with desire. everything begins with commitment. i’m committed to learning how to play the guitar, come hell or high water. i’ve got such a long way to go but it’s a fun ride these days. (to quote the brain, “sometimes i even amaze myself”—with what i remember and how fast i’m picking things up.)

when i started this goal of wanting to be a better guitarist, i could barely hold the thing, much less play it. now i can play songs but they’re herky-jerky: i’m simply not sure of myself, and there are so many things to work on as i play that it takes a lot of plain ol’ focus, to concentrate on that one thing and fix it and move on to the million other things that i’m doing wrong as i play. but i am playing. i am getting better. and that puts me light years ahead of where i was a year ago. so as far as i’m concerned, mission accomplished.

i’m taking guitar lessons at nyc guitar school (what a great place for a girl to learn how to play) and although i’m not as good as i think i should be in my head, i’m better than i was and i’m getting better every day. i’m getting callouses on my fingertips and i’ve learned how to strum through open chords comfortably. the key is to learn songs. each song presents its own problems, its own new set of chords to learn and some other strum to adapt. i’m giving myself until my birthday in june to play out somewhere.

bar chords and power chords are pretty frustrating (and painful!) but i’ll get there. that plus the weekly piano/theory lessons are sending me in another direction.

but i’m not going to stop.

i’m out of town at present and the first thing i packed was my baby taylor. it frustrates me to practice because i’m so bad at it—and yet, i pick up the guitar when i’m frustrated. so i’m working my way through my frustration, one chord at a time. and i think i’m making progress.

i want to play songs with open chords comfortably by my birthday. wish me luck.

I just recently picke up my guitar again after a couple of weeks. I need to be more avid on practing even if it is dull. That way I can get better.

i just learned “take it easy” by the eagles but i play it lousy, all herky-jerky because i strum like a freakin’ cowboy. but i’m practicing my scales and my fingering is getting better. when i come home from a gig and i can’t sleep, i sit up in bed in my frilliest underwear and play guitar while watching adult swim until i’m too drowsy. practicing scales while watching tv takes the monotony out of it and it keeps me from looking at my hands, which is helping me to feel more confident.

the really good news? i got a cool jazz guitarist that i like to give me guitar lessons in exchange for voice lessons!

i want to play guitar so well that i render boys incapable of saying things like “she’s good…for a girl.” i don’t care if i’m 80 when it happens. i just want it to happen.