So. I have a guitar now?
There's a guy that I did co-op work for back in grade 11 high school who I've been doing work for during the summers since. I think this old man has adopted me as a fourth child because of how long I've been working for him (It's funny to picture me as a random filipino kid at a white family gathering). I worked a few days over the winter break in his shop, and I ended up talking to him about his guitar collection in the lounge above the shop. I've been curious about it for years since I've never seen him play but there's a handful of guitar learning books scattered around the shop. I mention to him that I was planning on saving up to buy myself a guitar to start learning (it turns out songwriting isn't the easiest when bass and the memory of piano are the only instruments you know).
Cut to a couple days ago, I get a call from him. It's about work stuff, but at the end of the call he asks "did you get your guitar thing figured out?" "Nope," I reply. "Okay," he says, "do you mind also giving me your brother's number?" "Why?" "It's a surprise."
alright?! sure. Sure.
So my brother came by yesterday evening to drop off the guitar. He was funny about it. Came in with a guitar case on his shoulder, and a coldass can of sprite in the other hand. Went "this is for you" and handed me the sprite. Then gave me the guitar case after I stared at it long enough going "what the Fuck".
It's one of those things where I understood the possibility of it, but I didn't think it could actually be real. But it was incredibly real. As real as the bright red Stratocaster that was then sitting on the kitchen table. Okay. Yeah. Sure. Alright. (WHAT THE FUCK).
I spent last night getting the breakdown of some very basic things I should know about playing from my guitarist roommate (I finally understand what palm muting is!) and faffing about with the guitar. Got to experience the hell that is pulling off new knobs, and manoeuvring the plastic off of the pickguard without taking the strings off. I can now play about 4 chords and with neither finesse nor confidence switching between them.
My guitarist roommate seems delighted to have another instrument in the house. Said me having a guitar now makes him want to actually commit to renting out an electric drum kit. I really have to give that roommate a lot of credit, because his encouragement is what really kept me practicing bass during first semester. While I was trying to see if I could cleanly switch between strumming A and A minor, he points across the room to me from the kitchen going, "That's good! You've got strings ringing out! That's further than some people get!" That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, really just makes me more concerned about the people he's met. Told him as such. And he argues back to "consider how long it consider someone with absolutely no musical experience to go from zero to where you are now." Which. Yeah. I can't argue with that. It's really nice to have someone else reminding you that even the small steps are still big achievements. It makes me feel really optimistic about learning guitar.
Really I'm just excited for when it stops feeling like the strings are cutting into my fingers. You would think my fingers would be more durable from bass but nope! I think my finger strength from bass carries over, but stars I want my fingers to hurt less while pressing down the top strings.
Weirdly I think having the guitar will also force me to practice bass more too. There was such a satisfaction switching from the guitar to my bass and remember that I can in fact play songs on a bass. It's like a consistent reminder of what I'm trying to work up to.
https://cdplayerdisk.blogspot.com/
10/10 that shit is exciting
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