RobArt Penguin

When I was a kid, I wanted to learn guitar. My father set me, and my sister, up with lessons. We went to a musical instrument store for the lessons, which controlled the type of instrument we purchased. Our first guitars were inexpensive but solid Yamaha classical guitars, and to go along with the instruments: classical guitar lessons. Unfortunately, I wanted to learn rock and roll. Hey, it was the seventies! My sister didn’t want to play guitar at all, and only went along with the flow. She only stuck with lessons a few months. I kept going, learning to read music and play simple classical pieces. The instructor was a very old man, who obviously knew what he was doing, but got angry every time I missed a note or a beat. I eventually got tired of his style and quit lessons, but continued my hope of becoming a rock and roll guitarist. On my own, I learned a few licks, a bunch of cords and a couple of songs. I never mastered the instrument and never learned to play rock and roll. But I have played my same Yamaha guitar all my life. Now, I fool around with blues scales and a few pseudo classical cord progressions. I used to play for my son to help him sleep. Now, I play for myself. It relaxes me and sometimes helps me get out of writer’s block. I’ve gotten better over time. Who knows, in another fifty years … I might be a rock and roll guitarist.