Learning Guitar

So, at the delicate age of 53, I undertook to learn guitar! Ha ha. Some might say that's absurd but a very talented and musical friend of mine told me once "well, you could wait and when you are 57, you could say - hmmm I'm 57 and still can't play guitar or you could start lessons now and when you are 57 you could say, hmmm I can now play guitar much better than I would be able to do if I had never started!" :O)

Well I decided she had the right advice and so I started when I was 53 and I suspect I will be learning for a life-time. I have the best teacher in the world; Kyunghwee. He is patient and kind even when I am having a particularly thick-headed evening. Some days it clicks with me and makes sense and other days it is like slogging through molasses. Still, in moments when I am working on my practice, I find it very consoling and peaceful (despite the difficulty sometimes) and I have my beautiful wife Sheila to thank for that. I doubt I will ever be a great guitarist or perhaps even a good one but I enjoy it for what it brings to me and that is a considerable amount of joy and peace.

I am working now on what is for me, a very difficult piece of music. It is called Etude No 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos and it is beautiful. It is also quite difficult. Some of the chords are real stretches for me but more particularly there is a right hand part that when played properly, sounds like running water! If you want to hear it played in what is probably one of the best styles you could ever find, then just listen to this performance of the song by Mr. Christopher Parkening. He is without a doubt one of the most accomplished and able guitarists in the world. His abilities are certainly in the master-class and he has of course been playing most of his life. His performance of this piece is most beautiful and gives me something to aspire to though I doubt I will ever attain to this level of performance. Still, it gives me a great stre---tch goal! :O)


Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YdPvM_xZg4



I hope you enjoy his performance of the piece. If you want some amazing music to add to your collection, I strongly recommend you pick up his two-CD album set entitled "The Great Recordings". It is without a doubt some of the best guitar music you will ever hear.

I love sharing my love for guitar with others. I have been blessed with a good friend Gregg who seems to enjoy it as much as I do. It is great to be able to discuss all the in's and out's of learning to play with him.

So, I just wanted to say thank you to the people who brought this gift into my life. Thank you first to my beautiful wife Sheila who purchased my first electric guitar for me and provided me with lessons to truly get me immersed into guitar. I am very grateful for your gift and especially your love. Thank you next to Kyunghwee - my enthusiastic teacher; a fellow who not only is very personally talented with the guitar and has the patience of a saint (esp. with me!) but also has one of the most up-beat and positive attitudes toward life I have ever seen. Thanks too to Gregg for being my friend and for keeping me going, energizing me and participating in our shared love for the pursuit of such an incredible skill and gift.

Thanks be to God too (of course) for the gift of music. Music is surely one of the most restorative and healing of blessings for our souls and an incredible outlet for expressing the thoughts of our hearts!

Until next time, kind regards!
Jerry