Becoming a musician

The Healdsburg Guitar Festival was here last weekend. Guitar makers from around the country and a few from Japan. Probably about a thousand handmade guitars being exhibited. It is an overwhelming experience for a guitar player and lover. I played maybe a dozen instruments- all a joy to hold and play- all far somewhat superior to my instruments. Two years ago I played an archtop by a Japanese maker and it was my overall favorite. Again I played another by the same maker- the feel, the look, the touch, the sound, the vibrations... So many things make a guitar a work of art.

On entering I bought another music book, called something like "An organized approach to jazz improvization". By page three I am over my head- Dorian, Frigian, Aolian, Locrian and so on. But I will take a little bite at a time. I purchase a dozen "Django" style picks and a video by Taylor Martin playing some jazz standards, amazing stuff. I can play the chords or the melody. But he plays chords, melody and bass at the same time. I am starting with learning the bass part to "Rhythm Changes", alone it sounds very cool. Now I just have to get the other fingers working in coordination. About 2 hours a day for maybe another six months and I think I would have "Rhythm Changes" mastered. Yet I do not have that time or discipline.

My love, joy and faithful companion since I was 15 years old has been my guitar, not always the same guitar but a guitar. Sometimes just to accompany my singing, usually alone, sometimes at gigs, sometime to relax, sometimes to practice. I've traveled many directions in music since those early days- pop music, the sixties folk scene, Old Tyme, Bluegrass, Irish Traditional Music and now several kinds of jazz. All have been joyful musical journeys with my companion.

Yet I have not been a faithful suitor. I have been distracted by other lovely bodies- the mandolin, the fiddle, the octomandola and yes, even for a brief time, the banjo. But I always come back to the guitar.

(That is me, by the way, in the photo. I will not tell you what year. It is my television debut in Buffalo, New York. All true!)