My fingers are feeling a bit sore from pounding away on my guitar strings, so I thought I’d pause for a moment and record some thoughts.
I’m a beginning guitarist. Although I’ve owned mine for almost a year, I have yet to learn even one song. I practice my scales and periodically run through chord progressions, but anything beyond that finds me frustrated with my lack of ability.
I don’t want to learn to play the cheesy songs that are included in my guitar instruction book. I have no motivation to perform ‘Jingle Bells’ or ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm.’ These are not the songs that inspired me to drop a few hundred on a guitar. (Sadly, those that were my motivation are too complex for a novice like me.)
Purchasing a guitar wasn’t something that I approached flippantly, either. Perhaps I’m a bit strange for saying so, but it was certainly a decision that I spent many weeks praying over. Pardon me if I’m over-spiritualizing this, but it’s almost like a calling of sorts. I need to be able to pick up that piece of wood and use it to illustrate what I’m feeling. It’s like an extension of who I am’.
‘.only it’s not ‘ not yet. My progress is slow, but my dreams are many. I will not give up ‘ that’s precisely the reason I invested so much into this endeavor in the first place, so that I wouldn’t abandon it. It seems strange to say that I feel almost sinful when I go days or even weeks without practice ‘ but I do. Playing those scales and practicing those chord progressions is somehow worshipful in my heart.
No, I won’t give up. The scent of guitar strings on my left hand calls me out. I must press on.