The Music of Life

June 2021 

I like to play guitar. “Play” is no way a reflection of my proficiency. It is more an indication of my passion. For me, it starts with music itself. There is nothing in my life that brings out more emotion than music. I’m choked up right now writing about it. I’m not sure of the origin of this. But it certainly is a fact. I think for many of us. For me, the guitar is merely my way of expressing this. Or controlling it? I don’t know, I just like to play.

My acoustic guitar is like a friend. I pick it up multiple times a day and talk to it, and it talks to me. When I wake up in the morning, still lying-in bed, I begin stretching my fingers. Right after I get up, use the bathroom, and get my coffee, I grab my guitar.  I then sit down at the table and serenade my wife as she eats her breakfast.

This is my ritual. Our ritual.  I’m thankful she tolerates it! And this isn’t occasionally.  It happens at least 5 days a week. Then maybe 5 more times a day, I pick up my friend and strum. Sometimes for 5 minutes, sometimes much longer. Needless to say, my family is very patient. They quietly tolerate my passion for the guitar.  I cannot express how grateful I am for this. 

Now, I don’t completely suck. I keep it simple and stick to rhythm guitar.  I know loads of chords and hundreds of songs, or I can figure them out as I go. You wouldn’t call it music per se, but your ears wouldn’t bleed from listening either. I try not to sing, as my recent neck surgery has made my voice a little rough.  I’ve never been a great singer but I do like to sing. 

 Around a campfire, I’m competent enough.  If everyone has had enough to drink!  Regardless, it’s not about trying to perform but using my guitar to express my musical self. And generally, I use Beatle’s songs to do it. My wife and kids have probably heard Here Comes the Sun, Norwegian Wood and In My Life at least a thousand times!  Like I said, they are very patient. I think they know how important playing is to me.

Now the Beatles and I go way back. They came into my life in my teens and have dominated my musical thinking ever since. My passion for guitar stems from their work. I started to play guitar because of them.  Well over half of what I play are Beatles tunes. The rest are an amalgam of 60s, 70’s and 80’s rock and country. All songs likely inspired by the Beatles in one way or another themselves. So, I have that in common with some great musicians. I could write a book from my study of the Beatles. But what fan couldn’t? Maybe one day I will.

It’s as if somehow playing the Beatle’s music connects me to them in some small way. Maybe connects me to anyone that has tried to let their feelings come out by generating sounds from an instrument. Connecting you to something way bigger than yourself. But truthfully, anger, fear, sadness, hope, love, regret, every emotion really, can come out in the open when I am playing.  How this happens, I don’t know.  I just like to play.

Better stated, I use the guitar, and the sounds I make it emit, to express myself. My joys, fears, worries and hopes.  From the noise I make and the effort that it takes to study and make it, I discover a pleasure I find nowhere else. A peace that helps me through the chaos of life. Everything slows down, if only for a moment.

This peace is intensified when I begin to put chords and words together of my own making. Yes, I love writing songs.  Now, you will never hear any of these. But some of them are solid efforts. Nevertheless, like many things, it’s more about the journey than the destination. The process of composing is so fulfilling. It doesn’t matter how it turns out. Or if it turns out at all.  I just like to play.

Now I have a grandson.  Some of his first words were “pick”, “capo” and “music”. He’s a two-year-old toddler that likes to strum while I finger the chords.  So, he likes to play guitar too.  And he already loves music.  Maybe he will become the real musician I always dreamt of being?  Honestly, I hope he just finds his way to appreciating what music and playing an instrument can do.  How it can make you feel.

I love music.  I play guitar. It makes me stop, if only for a moment and feel. I wish everyone could experience that. Maybe it’s not that I just like to play, maybe I need to?  Maybe we all need to?  That would be one giant band!