The road ahead
I’m sitting here next to a strange instrument, or at least strange to me. My new guitar. Oh! You didn’t know that I had a guitar or that I played?! Well, I didn’t have one until today and no, I don’t play. 
I am going to start taking lessons this week. It is a pretty inexpensive guitar as far as guitars go. Looking at the various prices, $99 – $3,000+, for acoustic guitars can be daunting; however, having the guidance of a good teacher in this regards is priceless.
My teacher met me today at a guitar studio where he teaches. They also sell a few guitars there too, but he has nothing to do with the store other than renting a space. Surprisingly, the guitars there were very competitively priced. He asked the owner what he had in stock, he picked out a couple of them up, played them a little bit, rejected one of them as bad and possibly having a manufacturing defect, then gave one to me and said that it was a great sounding guitar. He should know, he’s been playing for over 30 years. I knew enough to know that I knew absolutely nothing. I was prepared for big sticker shock. The owner said that that particular guitar was on clearance. List price was $375, clearance price, $135. I said, immediately, I’ll take it! So now I’m the proud owner of an Avondale guitar, an instrument that I’ve wanted to play for a long time, but never had or took the time to learn. Now is the time.
The ‘experts’ say that you become an expert at something after practicing it for 10,000 hours. Well, I’m on hour zero right now. As my lessons won’t start until sometime later this week, possibly, if he has an opening, I’ve not started the timer just yet. I did strum on it a bit, though. Now I have that daunting newbie feel. It’s hard to believe that I ever felt this way with a camera, but I know that I did. Now that old feeling is back. A feeling of newness, confusion, a small amount of anxiety, and a lot of excitement.
I met a lady in the store who said that she’s been playing for 6 months and she loves it. She showed me her fingertips. They were pretty well calloused and you could see impressions of where the strings fit perfectly! She started playing at age 50 and was shunned by her family because they were all classical pianist and she just wasn’t into it. She just wanted to play for fun. They couldn’t understand it so they rejected her and don’t even speak to her. How shallow is that?!
Anyway, hour zero is a fun place to be, full of excitement. Many instruments, when played well, have the ability to transport me into what seems like another dimension. Certainly music is mood altering. I wonder what the creation of music will feel like? I can see myself sitting by the ocean, one day, strumming away in rhythm with the waves. Alas, I must be careful of my expectations and simply enjoy the journey as I have all of these many years with my camera. I never tried to get anywhere. I’ve always just practiced because it was something joyful and fun to do.
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22 Responses to “Hour Zero”
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Going in with a good attitude, mile 0 of a 10,000 mile journey. I’ve been playing for a few years and still pretty much suck, but immensely enjoy it. Watch out though, you are on a slippery slope that leads to singing.
Enjoy your beginners mind.
Singing! I think not! There’s need to be a lot of studio work to tweak my voice into a singer’s voice.
If I do sing, for sure it will be in private.
This sounds also to be well in-line with your late analogue awakening.
Hour zero. It is a good place to be, indeed. There are still 99.000 to go, but there’s no rush. It’s not necessarily a better place to be, the 100.000th hour.
Interesting. I never thought about that … making a correlation between film photography and playing the guitar. Something to ponder.
Oh, crap, it was 10.000, not 100.000. I don’t even know if you live that long… That’s me and figures in a nutshell.
Wow, Ove! I hope that it doesn’t take 100,000 hours!
That’s a really long time!
Paul, you are a constant source of amazement
Andreas: Is that amazement or amusement?!
Hey Paul, congrats on your new instrument! The guitar is an incredibly fun and versatile instrument. It ranks up there with photography in my short list of favorite pastimes.
Ganbatte! (Japanese for “stick with it” or “hang in there”!)
Thanks, Eric. I’m really excited about it. May I assume by your comment that you play?
I do. About 5 years now. Started in my 40s. I had a couple of years of lessons when I was 8 or something like that, but my parents would only let me play classical guitar. Me, I was listening to the Beatles on WLS out of Chicago and dreaming of playing more modern stuff. I burnt out on the classical lessons pretty quick. It took me until middle age to figure out that I didn’t want to go to the grave without having had the experience of being able to play the guitar. Picked up a guitar about five years ago and with the help of a couple of books I am self-taught. I not anywhere what you’d call good, but if I hear an old song on the radio that brings back memories I can usually pick up the guitar and be playing it in about 20 minutes.
Hang in there. It’s a blast!
Congrats on the guitar! I had always wanted to learn to play the guitar as well. I stopped and started teaching myself several times with limited success and finally, at age 40 (I’m 45 now), decided to make a serious run at it. I took lessons for about 8 months and have been playing ever since. I’m not great by any means, but I can lead the kids in a few songs at church and play for residents of a local nursing home once a month which was what I was shooting for all along.
I told a friend after about a year of playing that I wish I hadn’t waited until I was 40 to learn. He said that at least I didn’t wait until I was 80.
Anyway, best wishes and bring your camera AND your guitar the next time your visit Ohio.
Merry Christmas my friend.
–Rob Terry
Thanks, Rob! I didn’t know that you played! Wow! Isn’t a blog a great place to learn new things, photographic and otherwise. Who needs to be great? It’s just another form of expression. As for bringing the guitar, now I’ll too much carry-on for the plane! I’ll have to leave something behind or consolidate.
Thinking about getting on a plane with a guitar reminds me of some of those funny movies where the person carries the guitar high enough to bonk everyone on the head as they walk down the aisle with the guitar.
Your pst brought a smile to my face this morning. Now you are adding music to the list of new adventures in your life. I took up the guitar when I was in grade school however I was not in a place to practice. I stayed with it for a bout 6 months but there were too many ball games to play and buddies to hang around with to put in the time. I picked up a guitar this past year and surprisingly remember a few chords. Have fun and enjoy the excitement you are feeling. I like how you call it a journey! Keep us all informed when your first album comes out.
Ooh, and, I really like this image.
Move over Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton!
I think it’s great and I’m sure it will provide many hours of enjoyment for you on this journey.
For myself, I love music but was born with a leaky bucket that would not even carry a tune.
I’m self-taught in a lot of things, and guitar is one. I took lessons when I was 12 or so, promtly forgot them, then didn’t pick it up again until I was 20, when I got really serious for a few years. I would play and sing folk songs at parties (Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, people like that). The fact that I actually sang live in front of people amazes me today, I can’t even believe I did that ( in that area I have regressed in my bravery quotient ). Today I play just for myself, just hacking around. I use TAB sheets (if you don’t know what they are, you’ll find out soon enough) to play new songs I don’t know well enough to play by heart yet and give myself some joy.
Hopefully you’ll reach a point where you can play just for the fun of it. Then you’ll discover the joy of making music for just you. There’s a peace and tranquility in it that is hard to describe. But once you experience it, you understand people who make music for a living much better than you might do so today.
This is a wonderful move for you, especially where you are in life now. IT will bring you much joy, I’m sure.
What kind of music do you like?
My absolute favorite type of music is Blues, without a doubt.
So, you used to be a performer, eh? My favorite guitarists: Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King, Carlos Santana, Jonathan Butler, not in any particular order. It just depends on my mood.
Well, those people can PLAY! I mean, Dylan is an ok guitarist, but he kinda just strums a lot . . . that’s more like me. I really get enjoyment out of playing songs I know and love. The fact that I can hear it in my head makes it easier for me to play. I don’t know music well enough to know scales or keys (If someone said to me ” this song is just a blues riff in B-flat”) I’d be lost, but real musicians can communicate that way. They know which sets of changes go with which key. That’d the main reason why I’ve never played in a band. When I worked as a lighting designer for a big-time rock band, I would listen to the band members talk to each other during recording sessions. I would be lost.
When I bought my first electric guitar, it was to play for myself some of the numbers I would have heard that band play. Using TAB notation, I can ‘fake’ my way through some of those numbers, but I’m just imitating.
It still is an amazing experience to make music on an instrument you are playing that sounds like, say, BB King does, even a little. Quite the rush.
Forget the 10,000 hours and instead just enjoy the next hour. That’s the great thing about a guitar. Two or three chords, a new strum or finger pattern, and you’re making music. Congrats and enjoy!
Be careful Paul. Guitars are somewhat like cameras – you can never have just one!
I started learning a few years ago, ended up with 3 guitars along the way and found myself falling behind in my lessons due to other things that always seemed to creep back in. Then I stopped for awhile for “a break” and that break ended up being a lot longer than I wanted to. It really takes a lot of dedication on the practice, some very repetitive. I had hoped I would pick it up much faster than I was doing. Yeah, I could think up a thousand excuses probably.
It is still something I want to pick up again, even if it means starting at Hour Zero.
p.s. these sites were some of my favorites for some easy lessons;
http://www.guitarnoise.com/
http://www.riffinteractive.com/
Just started learning myself, about 3 weeks ago, I’m 55. Picked up a Luna Acoustic/Electric as a Amazon Deal of the day. Started to learn the star spangled banner last night (not chords, just individual notes). Chords and especially chord transitions are really hard.
Good luck and have fun, I know I am.