Music is back in my life
I can boast that I have a substantial mp3 music collection and I spend every day at work listing to my music. I am not a person who only listens to one style of music. I can listen to classical one minute and country the next. Except for Jazz and Hip Hop, I'm open to listening to all styles.
Being a left hander, I always felt my life would have gone in a different direction if I would have been born right handed. Why? Because I could never learn how to play guitar. Back when I was growing up you either played right handed or turned it upside down to play. Neither one of those options appealed to me. I was heavy into playing in bands and singing and if I would have been able to play guitar I never would have joined the army.
Now that my writing days are over, I decided I needed to learn something new. Of course I was still attracted to learning to play guitar, but as I stated above, I didn't think that was going to happen.
It was my wife Carly who did the asking for me when a new music school opened in our neighbourhood here in UAE.
"Absolutely," they assured her, "we have two lefty's in class right now!"
Talk about my big break. I instantly bought a beautiful Yamaha C70 Classical guitar and started lessons the following week.
It has been 6 weeks now and I am very happy with my progress. My fingers go where there are supposed to go and I am retaining all of the things I was taught up to now.
We took a trip into Dubai to a music store and low and behold they had a left hand electric guitar on sale for less than half price. No left handed guitar players (if there are any in UAE) wanted to buy a lefty Yamaha Pacifica. Talk about luck knocking on my door.
Carly wanted to learn to play piano so we invested in a small keyboard and she is learning to play that on her own.
The next purchase was for a beautiful left hand Giglia violin, along with a bow and a recent purchase of a self taught book and CD. I figured if I could learn to play the fret board on a guitar it shouldn't be too big an obstacle to learn how to play it on a violin.
The amplifier for my electric guitar was the last of it. Perhaps we went a little overboard but I cannot overstate how nice it is to:
For once in my life the only person standing in the way of my success is me.
I like those odds.
Being a left hander, I always felt my life would have gone in a different direction if I would have been born right handed. Why? Because I could never learn how to play guitar. Back when I was growing up you either played right handed or turned it upside down to play. Neither one of those options appealed to me. I was heavy into playing in bands and singing and if I would have been able to play guitar I never would have joined the army.
Now that my writing days are over, I decided I needed to learn something new. Of course I was still attracted to learning to play guitar, but as I stated above, I didn't think that was going to happen.
It was my wife Carly who did the asking for me when a new music school opened in our neighbourhood here in UAE.
"Absolutely," they assured her, "we have two lefty's in class right now!"
Talk about my big break. I instantly bought a beautiful Yamaha C70 Classical guitar and started lessons the following week.
It has been 6 weeks now and I am very happy with my progress. My fingers go where there are supposed to go and I am retaining all of the things I was taught up to now.
We took a trip into Dubai to a music store and low and behold they had a left hand electric guitar on sale for less than half price. No left handed guitar players (if there are any in UAE) wanted to buy a lefty Yamaha Pacifica. Talk about luck knocking on my door.
Carly wanted to learn to play piano so we invested in a small keyboard and she is learning to play that on her own.
The next purchase was for a beautiful left hand Giglia violin, along with a bow and a recent purchase of a self taught book and CD. I figured if I could learn to play the fret board on a guitar it shouldn't be too big an obstacle to learn how to play it on a violin.
The amplifier for my electric guitar was the last of it. Perhaps we went a little overboard but I cannot overstate how nice it is to:
- Learn to play an instrument - both a mental and a physical challenge, and
- No longer be writing novels.
For once in my life the only person standing in the way of my success is me.
I like those odds.
