Scribblings

Guitars

My guitar is about 35 years old. You wouldn't be able to tell it was that old if you looked at it. I've been very careful with it over the years. I used to rub it down with lemon oil to keep the wood shiny. I bought it with my own money (saved from babysitting and allowances) and I used to play it every day for hours and hours. As I got older, I played it a little less. When the kids came along, I stopped...there just wasn't time in the day. I wouldn't ever give it up or give it away even when my fingers and wrists began to ache with injuries and arthritis. I didn't care if I never played again, I love that guitar.

A few times in recent years, Heidi said she'd like to learn the guitar. I would say well, maybe I can teach you. She'd say yeah but that was about as far as it got. Not long ago, she spoke wistfully of having a guitar and I remembered how I felt when I had my guitar and was able to play it. Kristin began talking about wanting to play too. Originally, I thought I might give my guitar to Heidi but then I thought, hey, why not just get the beginning kit? You get an acoustic guitar and a few other basics. This way each girl could have her own.

It didn't quite work out that way. Those guitars aren't very big--I guess they are mostly meant for kids who want to learn. We went to the flea market not far from here and picked up two really nice acoustic guitars. My, how things have changed! There wasn't one guitar in the place with nylon strings. I hadn't seen any in the music store either. Doesn't anyone play with nylon strings anymore?

I used to tune my guitar with a pitch pipe. It's hard to describe it, a funny looking little thing with six little tubes, one to tune each string of the guitar. You blow into it and it makes a harmonica-like hmmmm sound. Then you tune the string as best you can to the sound you hear. I'd learned to tune the first string to a piano and then the others, by ear, to the 5th fret of the preceding string--except for the second one. You held down the 4th fret of the 3rd string to tune that one.

Okay, anyway, I asked the guy for a pitch pipe and he looked at me like I had six heads. I said, "You know, to tune it." Ohhh. He came up with a couple of battery operated digital (I guess) tuners. One has a suction cup that attaches to the guitar. The other one is much more sophisticated. It tunes any instrument once its calibrated. Well, I had a devil of a time trying to tune the girls' guitars with that thing. A mere fraction of a turn one way or the other and you'd have a sharp or a flat instead of a regular note. Argh! TB had to help out the first time around.

It sure brought back lots of memories. I played that guitar in all moods--whenever I felt lonely, sad or depressed and also whenever I was feeling really happy and everything in between. The songs I learned were mostly folk although there were some from the times--the early 1970s--like "Leavin On A Jet Plane" and "You've Got A Friend" and "Hey Jude".

I kept all my music over the years. Unlike the guitar, the pages of music show their age. The first song I learned to play was "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" and so that was the one I taught the girls. It had just 2 easy chords in it and I figured it was a good place to start. But I also remember how cool it felt to play music I listened to so I went online and looked for some popular songs with easier chords and found a few.

If there's a downside it's how much my hands have aged in 35 years. I have good fingers for playing the guitar, long and slim. I could play bar chords and stretch my fingers over several frets. I could pick and pluck the other strings and it sounded great to me although I know I'm no Eric Clapton. It was fun to play for myself and for my friends and family and feel the joy of making music. Now my fingers are stiff and thick and clumsy. I can't string my guitar right and it's so frustrating. I need to unstring and do it again and probably will need to have someone's help getting it started. Once I get it strung, though, I think I'll be able to play and play and the "how to" memories will all come back. I forgot how much I loved it. :)