I have an excuse to chew my fingernails. Guitar.
I have also discovered my fingertips are fat.
Never will I be a virtuoso, nor do I strive to be. When I bought my guitar using the Bravo points my coworkers had awarded me, my goal was to learn to play well enough to sing a few songs while playing. My son in law plays, and he sings each morning during his prayer time. That’s what I want to do. I wouldn’t mind being able to serenade my sweetheart, as well.
It’s a six string Ibanez, for those who want to know, a nice looking dark brown acoustic. People tells me it looks good and sounds like it looks. I took lessons for a few months after I first got the guitar. Lessons are expensive. Then Lisa and I decided to buy a house. Buying a house meant cutting the frills for a while, and we moved 30 miles away from the music store, so the lessons stopped. A friend had told me about a good online guitar lessons site, so I enrolled there. Until recently, I didn’t attempt much. My in person lessons didn’t go well, and the struggle continued with the online lessons. But I have kept coming back, and now know four chords, can play them well enough.
My fingertips still feel chubby. Practice will (hopefully) rid me of that. The notes are sounding more clear, the callouses are forming. I am crossing my fingers, literally, and am trying to make it a priority to play every day. We shall see.
Oh…and I am also tooting my horn more. The chops are coming back. It’s possible that I may get to be part of a little brass section for Easter services at church next year. Last year, I sang in the choir, a whole lot of fun — our church likes to make Easter a celebration rather than a somber event. I put the bug in our music pastor’s ear this past weekend, let him know I was interested in playing my horn, even gave him a few song hints. He was very interested.
I think I will keep the guitar thing to myself, though. There is a sweetness to being able to sing, and I envy those who can. Maybe it will be me some day.
shenrydafrankmann 