I've always wanted to be a guitar player and I remember seeing a guitar in a shop window and falling in love with the thing at first sight, I went into the store the following morning and put down a small deposit, then paid down a little on it each week from the money I got from my paper round until I was able to take it out the store before Christmas, I got home and took it out of the case, I was fourteen at the time and didn't know one chord but I started strumming it for awhile and within minutes my fingers were extremely sore, for some weird reason I remember being teased coming home with the instrument by some school friends, I decided that no matter how long it took I would prove to them I would be able to play it.
I went into the music store in town and got myself a guitar tuition book, I made sure it was one of the easiest books I could get hold of with clear drawings of the chord and hand positions but even sitting down to try out some of the chords was like touture and painful, I began to feel that I was the only person on earth who owned a guitar and couldn't play it because everyone I knew that owned one had no problem playing it, as far as I was concerned anyone who could play three chords or more was a genius.
I really wanted to play the guitar, there were times when I felt like giving up, I just couldn't see any improvement, I would have given anything to get to a standard good enough to play with a band let alone do a gig, I realised that I would have to practice hard no matter how painful it would be and master holding chords from A to G then sharps and flats, there were even the tricky and fiddly major and minor keys as well that I always dreaded coming across but I went over them night after night until the pain slowly tolerable and my fingers became stronger, I listened to a lot of records and practiced various riffs from them, whenever I heard a chord I wasn't sure I picked it out and practiced it until I was familiar with defining chords by ear.
I started to listen to many different forms of musical styles and discovered various scales and patterns that widened my creativity in playing music, as I turned sixteen I gained enough confidence to play with bands, getting used to chord changes and practice lead guitar, the process for me wasn't easy, it involved shifting from rhythm playing to soloing and adjusting tone and volume levels within split seconds as well as keeping good timing throughout the whole ordeal. By the time I was seventeen I became professional, which involved recording, session work, performing live and touring, from my experience it was a dream I've always wanted to fulfill and with practice and patience it becomes easier every time I play the instrument and the fun thing is that every time you practice you will often hear new ideas.
Professional guitarist, songwriter and musical director residing in Kent, United Kingdom, currently writes for magazines and ezines between tours and music workshops, music styles include jazz, soul, rock, blues, funk, latin and pop.
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