In Tune

My 13 year old son had his first guitar lesson this evening.  All of the chairs in the waiting area were mismatched and were of varying degrees of comfort.  I tried three of them before I settled in.  The lighting was harsh and the walls, trim and floor were all different shades and tones of grey.  It was not particularly clean and on the “coffee” table which was missing all of its drawers were random pages of a few of the city’s free papers.  None of the stories that were visible were compelling enough to pick up.  So to pass the time I listened to the different lessons going on behind closed but not soundproof doors.  The adolescent boy in room 7 started his lesson finger-picking “Oh Shenandoah” which was a surprising choice but sweet and simple.  His father, sitting in one of the seats that I had passed on was tapping his foot, presumably to what he thought was the rhythm, while making notes in the margins of a Business school text book.  I could hear bits and pieces of my son’s conversation with his new teacher although he was in room 8 so a little farther away.  I was happy to hear how comfortable he sounded.  They started in on learning the first 4 chords of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” A relatively easy beginning but with a satisfying alternative rock sound.  Something that he will likely want to practice so that is good!

I was a little younger than him when I started guitar lessons—I was 12 but I was going on 26.  I had a crush on my teacher but I think it had very little to do with him.  I had just seen a Rex Smith movie called “Sooner or Later” in which a 13 year old falls in love with her 17 year old guitar instructor and  I thought it was terribly romantic.  I did like playing the guitar and I was fairly competitive with myself—I really wanted to figure out the songs before the following lesson.  The problem was, no matter how solidly I could play the song alone at home, the second I got to the music store my hands would sweat so badly I could not even hold a pick.  Rhythm and technique also went right out the window …well metaphorically since there was not a window in the 5’x5’room.   And even though my guitar teacher probably never knew I learned “Stairway to Heaven” so well that 32 (really?) years later I use it to tune guitars.

You should not get the idea that I play often.  The frequency I’ve opened my guitar case over the years follows the Fibonacci sequence.  After my guitar teacher quit to play tennis I probably did not pick it up again for 13 years, then 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, and that brings me to now.  I’ve been inspired a few times this year and have taught myself a few songs.  What I’ve found interesting is that every time I’ve picked it up I’ve been better not worse no matter how much time has gone by.  I keep have to relearning where the chords and notes are, but what I lacked as a young girl, confidence and forgiveness, has grown through the years and that has made the difference between strumming series of chords and playing a song.  Now, I’m still probably better by myself than when I have an audience, but a lack of self-consciousness and the courage to make mistakes is key to unlocking our true potential.