I’m a Guitar Man

A few years ago (when I was taking my GCSE’s at school) I took up guitar. I had a vintage, blue, electro-acoustic guitar and I loved it! There was one problem though in that at the time, I couldn’t play it and with dreams of becoming a rockstar… I had taken music as one of my subjects.

I could play the flute. I could play it well enough to get me an average grade at GCSE but it embarrassed me and although it introduced me to the world of music as a hobby, I never really enjoyed it. Therefore the first performance in music came round and everyone was amazing. One of my good friends played the Mario Bros theme on his electric guitar and it blew everyone away. Another played the prodigy, invaders must die and also really good. At this point I was sweating. I didn’t have my flute with me. I had my guitar and I wasn’t nearly good enough to take the stage following these guys.

My turn came and I took the stage. The teacher asked me where my flute and when I told her I had a guitar. She gave me a weird look and the rest of the class sat plain faced waiting to hear what I had to offer. I was never really popular at school and performing in front of peers was not an idea I relished.

Red as a tomato and sweating profusely, I went ahead and played. It was shockingly bad but luckily for me, everyone was very supportive… except for the teacher who seriously recommended I considered playing the flute for my GCSE. Nah, I needed to get as good as the rest of my class now. This was the beginning and I was only going up.

I proceeded to take lessons and throughout the year, my performances got better and better. Alongside my music GCSE I was taking a subject called “resistant materials technology” which is a fancy way of saying “making things”. I was really into guitar at this point and I chose to make an electric guitar for my GCSE in this.

Unfortunately, I am not a rockstar (currently) but guitar was such a passion of mine at the time that I went on to do my final performance at the end of the year with an electric guitar I made and got an A in both subjects. Guitar was a release from the stress of my other subjects and the playground. The time I had to practice was abundant and this was one of my greatest achievements. I had proven I could do it.

There is a point to this story. After finishing my GCSE there was no need in my mind to play guitar. My drive stopped and both my guitars had been gathering dust in my room for years. Recently, the guys at work brought in their guitars for a jamming session and seeing this, I decided I’d try to rekindle my passion. I play guitar for no reason now, no goal. Just personal pleasure in a musical release. There are always new songs to learn and new ways to improvise. It’s a way to express yourself and I find it very relaxing after a hard days work. If you take anything from this story, I seriously recommend guitar or any musical instrument as a hobby because once you start, it’s a real healthy addiction. Further to joining the work band I brought in and showed them my own creation and now we are looking at finding the parts and building another. There are so many angles to this as a passion. I can’t recommend it to you enough. Whether you want to follow Nickelback and be a rockstar or whether you just need to chill at the end of the day. Guitar – try it!

P.S. Have a look at some of these custom guitars. They make for a great project!

https://www.pinterest.com/JackRicketts1/custom-guitars/