Hard Work

A few months ago I am over my girlfriend's parents house. I was trying to find new ways of staying in and not wasting money at a bar but mostly it was an attempt to get her parents used to me. Her sister had gotten the newest Guitar Hero at the time. I had never played any of them and never really wanted to. In my eyes it was just a modern version of an air guitar or so I had thought. After playing it once I was hooked. I spent the next few weeks trying to track down one for my game system. I am almost ashamed to say that I had a co-workers husband track one down for me. Almost.

Playing the game was a bit nostalgia and a bit inspiring. As a kid I used to imagine I was Slash every time Welcome to the Jungle came on The Box, or I was BB King when ever I listened to Humming Bird. With this game I can now pretend to be one of these great guitar players (disappointing that they don't have blues or country though. yeah i said country. what?) and emulate them. But at the end of the game, with how many ever points, I am still standing there with a fake guitar and only a minor sense of accomplishment. Another co-worker, who actually plays the guitar, kind of inspired me with a simple statement, "I'd rather learn how to play those songs for real". And so began my search for a guitar.

Not right away. It was sitting in the back of my mind for a little bit. Then a curiosity that led to some questions. Then to hardcore research. Checking out music shops after work. Reading review after review online. Now I am proud to say that I am an owner of a new guitar and I am happy as a child at the start of summer break.

Although acoustic sounds nice, I love the variety of sounds you can get from electric. After that and a little research, the choice came down to a Squire Fat Strat or a Epiphone LP-100. (For a little while the G-310, or the Studio was in the running.) If you don't know anything about guitars just nod your head and keep it moving. Both had pluses and minuses but the LP-100 won me over. I can't tell you what the Fat Strat sounded like so that was probably a determining factor but I just loved the sound on the 100 that I was not turning back. Dude at the store had me try out, what he felt was better, an Ibanez just to compare sounds. It was nice but heavier and the sound felt different.

I got no illusions that I will be great or anything like that. I just want to be good enough to play for myself in my house. I know this will be hard. My fingers have already started to become tender. Some time in the future they"ll bleed. For now I am learning from a book so that has frustrations in and of itself. But over the last few days there is a moment where I actually am doing something right. It feels right, it sounds right and I know I am getting better than the day before. That is all I can ask. In the mean time I can always play GH and act like I really do know that I am doing.

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