Starting the journeyOne Friday night, that second year of Varsity, the old room mate asked me to join him with a group of guys to go watch a movie ... a concert film ... who? ... The Rolling Stones.
I'd heard Satisfaction on the radio back in the school days and Ruby Tuesday (a song for my "want to play that someday" list) and recall a magazine article all about Keith, Anita and drug addiction. Didn't know much more that but opted to go along anyway ... a change from a night of beer and darts.
Cut a long story short, that film lit the fire. I woke up the next day and wanted more of the Rolling Stones and to learn to play. And in particular it was Keith Richards that really got my attention ... just so cool, sitting on the edge of the stage with the bourbon and the connection with Ronnie.
I got my guitar. As I recall it was a Hondo, which was probably fairly unplayable beyond the 5th fret, such a high action. The class mate who could play was my guitar tuner, showed me chords and after I'd copied down the lyrics of songs I might want to learn, he'd listen a few times and write down the chords.
As I recall the first songs included Hotel California (starting in Am and OK until the F), Like A Hurricane (why did I keep picking songs with F but had got into NY via the triple album compilation Decade), As Tears Go By (no F but Bm), Jane S Piddy and over time lots more ... most of which I never managed to play with any reasonable measure of success.
And I kind of kept at it on and off for the rest of my time at Varsity. On the plus side, I did get to grips with F and playing A and G as barre chords ... not the 7th chord since the lift finger would leave a muted string behind. But never ever open B7 ... that was just impossible ...
After Varsity I did two years national service (that's another story) and at the end of it my girl friend of the time decided I deserved a really proper present ... for getting through the two years and a few other things (yet another story) and she brought me a guitar of much better quality ... not spectacular but way better than the Hondo ... and I don't recall what happened to the Hondo.
There she is ... a Celebrity CC67, obtained in Dec 1988 ...
I continued to try and learn simply by playing through a set of songs but never really felt satisfied with my progress. There were a few that I considered OK ... Jane S Piddy being one, Hotel California and Like A Hurricane, American Pie but many, many, many more that I could just never get to sound OK, even though the chords were playable.
And so this led to short burst of enthusiasm, quickly followed by frustration and then long periods were the guitar remained in its case. I moved cities, houses, relationships and through it all the guitar stayed around ... a wish that I believed I couldn't achieve.
In 2006 I worked with a lady who played base in a band etc ... it triggered the familiar pattern. But somehow I connected with another friend from a previous company who gigged in restaurants. He gave me a few lessons, introduced me to a metronome and I learned to play Knockin on Heavens Door with (I think) the 'old faithful' strumming pattern. I stuck at it a few weeks and made progress. But lessons stopped and practising on my own didn't work so well ... guitar back in the case.
And so it continued until Dec 2016 ...
Topic: David P's Road Case (Read 5832 times)
