Rocking Out
I went out this morning and bought myself a Fender Frontman 15R amplifier (I forgot that word. It's kinda crucial for understanding the rest of the post.) That is guitar-speak for "fucking awesome," I believe. Because I've had it for a day and I'm having a blast. It sounds great, it's louder than I'd ever need it to be, and it has a mysterious "reverb" knob that I'm told could be cool. Well, I know roughly what it does, I just don't know how to use it. Then again, I've had my guitar for two? three? years now and I'm only making full use of the various pick-ups now. (Pick-ups turn the vibrations of the strings into an electrical signal. My guitar has three, with five combinations total.)
I started playing guitar more than six years ago when I had a guitar class in the second half of 8th grade. I liked playing it, enough so that I got my parents to buy me a cheap guitar and pay for lessons. My guitar teacher fixed the bad habits I'd gotten into, and soon I could play Beatles and Johnny Be Good. It was fun, and I had lessons on and off for four years, but I never practiced enough to get really good. I felt kind of bad, since some weeks I wouldn't even pick up my guitar between lessons, but over the years I became a fairly competent guitar player.
There are many songs in my guitar book that I have forgotten how to play, and a lot of songs that I don't know in full, but my technical skill isn't bad. I want to become better though. I want to learn a lot more songs, entire ones even, and I want to start making some of my own. Right now, I'm thinking Jimi Hendrix would be cool. I'd be learning "Hey Joe" right now except my wrist is killing me- too much guitar. But with some effort, I'll be able to proudly say that yes, I play guitar.
I can't remember who it was, but some musician pointed out how odd it is that so many people say music is their life when they don't play an instrument, let alone actually live off of that instrument. If you truly love music, why not give a shot at playing some yourself? That's not to say that if you don't play an instrument, then you don't truly love music. It's just that if you do, it's more fun to rock out than to be a passive consumer.
2 comments:
okay so here is the thing now you hav eto play for me.
That is so awesome Oliver! I love how you wrote it: this morning I went out and got myself a guitar. I wish I could say so sleek like that. This morning I went out and got myself a Jaguar, or a piano or something expensive. Lol. I'd love to hear you play someday. Why didn't you perform at school then? We would have loved to hear you play! Oh, by the way, I might start taking voice lessons from a teacher that she take lessons from. It'd be awesome to start singing again. And i totally agree about passive consumption. THAT IS WHY I AM SO FRUSTRATED THESE DAYS. Cos I don't even have a keyboard at home which is a SHAME, really. I need to get one. There is one at the university but it's kinda awkward to use the university property, if u know what i mean. I really want to do something artistic. And if possible, I'd like to become an artist myself, preferably in music or theatre. We'll see..I just hope it won't be too late for me to start something competitive like voice. Anyway, gotta go. Take care and good luck with your practices!
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