Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Added New Years Resolution for 2013: Learn How to Play the Guitar

A lifelong goal of mine is to play the acoustic guitar. For those of you that don't know me well, I'm a HUGE music fan. I have three music memories that changed my life forever and served as a catalyst for my lifetime obsession of music appreciation.

The first memory is one from when I was a small girl. When my brothers and I were kids, we used to take family road trips out to the east coast of America to visit my dad's family in New Jersey. Along the way, we would stop at random places (think Sea World Ohio, Baseball Hall of Fame, and Cedar Point). In order to help the time pass, my dad would play oldies either on the radio or from a tape. Us kids would always complain and ask him to switch the music to something "cool." My dad decided on a new rule: he would only change the station if we could tell him the name of the song and the artist. By the time we actually started learning all of the songs, we actually enjoyed the music! Hmmm...maybe that was his plan all along...

My second music memory is from when I was also a little girl. I would carry around my handheld tape player with attached microphone and sing as loud as I could. Best part? The songs I would sing included the Little Mermaid soundtrack, the Grease soundtrack, and drumroll please...Madonna's Immaculate Collection album.

My third influential music memory is from junior high. I was upstairs in our childhood home and I could hear my dad playing the piano below. He would play every once in a while, but mostly when no one was around (which is a shame because he's amazing!). I remember hearing a melody that literally caught my attention that I snuck down on the stairs and listened to him play from behind the wall between us. Afterward, I remember asking him what the tune was and he replied, "Oh My Love by John Lennon." From that point forward, I have been obsessed with the Beatles and even made my dad record him playing this song and put it on a CD for me.

Because of these fond music memories, I knew that I wanted to play an instrument of my own. I've always been intrigued by acoustic guitars, so I chose to pursue that. I tried it out in college but with studying and partying I didn't learn very much... So recently, I decided that 2013 is the year.

After lunch/dinner on New Years Day, a French guy named Max who also is staying with our Auckland host family on a long-term basis taught me how to play the opening chords to REM's "Everybody Hurts." I was SO EXCITED. I kept playing it over and over until my fingers hurt. The audio isn't great, but here it is!:


I think the photo below and the video above truly capture my happiness in learning new things I'm passionate about. Once I get back to the States, I'm going guitar shopping! 

2 comments:

  1. You were a very good student and learnt it quite quickly, I am sure you will be good in no time.

    I will follow you and look forward to watch you play!

    It was nice to meet you girls, one of my best new years eve!

    Have a nice trip
    Max

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the compliment, Max! It helps that I had a great teacher :) Can't wait to update my progression. I'm going to "test drive" a guitar when I get back to the States.

    We had a wonderful time with you boys last weekend. I know our paths are bound to cross again in some other far corner of the world. Until then, keep in touch!

    ReplyDelete