My guitar

I mentioned I've been picking up the guitar again. My mom gave me my twelve-string Yamaha back. I sold it to my dad when my daughter was born so I could buy diapers and he promised I could have it back when I re-paid him. Slacker that I am--I never had the money to re-pay him. He passed away three years ago & my mom is ready to have her space in that room without ancient Fender amplifiers & cheap guitars. lol.

Anyway, I am progressively getting a bit better. I pulled out my old books of tablature (sp?) that my former teacher wrote out. I struggle with it--it has NEVER came naturally to me. I prefer finger-picking over any other style. Over the years, I've taught myself to play some of my favorite songs & just played them over & over. A lot of the songs my teacher was into--it was the late 80's--are obsolete to many people. He enjoyed heavy metal & I wanted to learn oldies! lol. I've got an eclectic collection of tabs--so if I ever got the nerve to play in front of someone--they wouldn't know the song. lol. In all my 38 years--I've only played in front of my kids or my roommate in college. Once I played for my mom when I was around 19, but never again since then. I'm just so shy about it because I KNOW I suck! lol. Oh wait--I was at a party when I was around 20, all my guy friends were musicians--I played a couple licks & then imitated them immediately. I was blown away--how do people DO that??? So I put it down quickly & just enjoyed watching them play. Now they are all in bands & get PAID, make some indie cd's & work their P/R. Cool cool.

When I was about 10, my dad would take me with him to his banjo lessons. He was never that great at playing guitar--but he thought he was. lol. I did learn some of his licks & still play them from time to time. What irritated him about the banjo lessons was--I could pick up the guitar afterwards & play the lesson from what I watched. Dad was amazed & irritated at the same time.

My twelve-string--ohhhh, I forgot how BEAUTIFUL it sounds. The chords echo, the strings are smooth & easy to play. I got cold chills it was just that reverberating--like the sound came to life. So I have to get over this struggle & really start to force myself to learn new songs. I'm working on Greensleeves now---I love love love folk music. Give me Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Melanie, Mamas & Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Peter, Paul & Mary---and I'm in a GREAT mood. The harmonies are just mind-blowing. It helps that my first real job was at a radio station that played 50's & 60's Solid Gold & I started snitching my parents albums when I was about 7. I've got them all now---Original Rolling Stones, Beatles, Steppenwolf---and I still love the crackly-crappy sound. It takes me back to my childhood--trying to drop little bits of water on the needle to reduce the crackly-sound. lol.

I guess that is something that bugs me about my kids. They love their music. Daughter has an iPod, son has an mp3 player. There's a radio or stereo in most rooms of our house. But they are not as OBSESSED with music as I am. I used to put my cd player speakers on my belly when I was pregnant, we always have music playing in the background in the kitchen. But they aren't as MOVED by certain songs as I am. I've taken them to live shows & they do LOVE it, but I don't see the SPARK that I had at that age. When I was from 7 to 10--I was in love with the Beatles, my parents bought me the White Album for my 10th birthday. My 14 yr old cousin asked me "Paul McCartney was in a band before WINGS?" I was mortified & totally stopped looking up to her. I couldn't FATHOM how she didn't know who the Beatles were.

I just went in to turn on the record player & daughter was cranky & unresponsive. I listened to No Sugar Tonight--the long version. Oh I love that song. Anyway, music moves me. It can put me in a great mood or even make me melancholy. It's so emotional. I love everything from Jerry Lee Lewis to Nickelback to Aerosmith (my favorite!!) to Willie Nelson to Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails. It's all good to me.

One of my elusive musicians I love--is a man from Texas. He's big there around Austin, D/F/W & Houston, but not a national well-known. His name is Shake Russell and the first song I heard of his--I broke down in TEARS. He's kind of country/ kind of rock--just a great, GREAT musician & lyricist.

I found him through a messenger friend I met in a chat room around 10 years ago. The chat room was Married But Flirting. lmfao! We totally hit it off & still talk to this day. He's known intimate things about my life that I've never told ANYONE. But he told me about how he loved going to live shows of Shake Russell and I had to download it from Napster. (back when Napster was COOL).

Ok, going to get in that shower NOW, times a wastin'! Gonna crank the stereo & get busy!