It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right/ I hope you had the time of your life
I’m not sure which made my fingers hurt more: rock climbing, or learning to play chords on a guitar. Even typing at this moment, my left fingertips are numb.
My new neighbor Joe had come across me writing a blog post on my front porch. He suggested a guitar lesson for my October challenge, and kindly acquiesced to giving me one.
“It has to be very basic,” I’d said. So when he unzipped his guitar case and said, “OK. This is a guitar,” I laughed and felt that I could handle the lesson.
I was even happier when Green Day’s song “Good Riddance,” was an option.
D was my kryptonite. No matter how many times I tried it, my fingers rebelled and it was a total mental block.
Joe gave me a pick and explained the different parts of the guitar: the head, the neck, the fret board, the bridge. He used an app on his phone to tune it and explained that factors like weather, moisture and even just playing a guitar can get it out of tune. Then he previewed the chords he would be showing me.
Guitars look easier to play, I think, than they really are. It turns out that using your left fingertips to press discreet strings while strumming or picking with your right takes a great deal of dexterity and thought.
Just learning the first chord – G – was a major challenge. No matter how hard I pressed, I ended up touching the other strings with my fingers, affecting the sound. Then, moving from G to the next chord, C, was not as simple as it should have been, given it only required moving two fingers.
But D was my kryptonite. (Kryptonite by Three Doors Down might be the next song I ask Joe to teach me, and hopefully it doesn’t involve D.) No matter how many times I tried it, my fingers rebelled and it was a total mental block.
“Just try moving from one chord to another,” Joe said. “You’re doing well.”
I played G and C on repeat until I was finally able to move between them more easily. Then I managed to move between C and D.
In dancing, nothing makes sense until you hear the music. It’s the same with playing a guitar. Once I started to hear the music in the chords, my fingers started moving more quickly as my mind put together the song. And then it started to be fun.
Joe suggested I could try singing, but he’s never been in the car with me when John Michael Montgomery’s “Sold” comes on, so he had no idea what he was in for. I politely declined.
I enjoyed playing the guitar and would definitely like to learn more. But before I hit the stage with Green Day or Three Doors Down, voice lessons might be in order…