Guitar Friend

Playing guitar is a love/hate thing for me. There are times when I play and it is like being in the zone.......sounds good, feels good, we are one. There are times when I play and I think it cannot get any worse than this. I look at my friends' hands, most of them wear nail polish and/or have beautiful nails.......I look at my hands, my nails are clipped as short as possible, I have thick callouses on the tips of my fingers, damn guitar!........but my guitars are magical.

I have a Taylor, it's the one that cost the most money, the one that everyone says "wow, you have a Taylor". I have an old Gibson( well it is in the shop right now). It is so old and worn there are scooped out places in the frets.....it has a sweet deep full of character sound. Then there is my twelve string, a Sigma that I bought on the layaway plan years ago when I was broke. Each guitar is like an old friend, with a unique sound, a distinct personality......sometimes (just like friends) we don't spend as much time together as we should, but those times when we do hang out, I never regret it.

I am hanging with my guitar friends much more these days. I played at guitar for years, but this past year, I decided to play guitar........it is not easy, it is time consuming, humiliating, down right discouraging......but also, joyful, inspiring, uplifting, wondrous, my time flies when you are having fun! I made a vow to my guitars this year, that I would not ignore them. I promised that I would do what it takes to release the beautiful music that lives within each of them.

There are new songs that reside in those guitars, just waiting for me to write and old songs ready to spring to life.

My brothers and my dad played guitar......not great guitar, but play with joy, play with love, play with a broken heart, and tears. I saw and heard through them, the relationship, the friendship that an old guitar could bring.......and even after being stored in the back of the closet, it responds with love when your fingers caress the strings.......a friend for life.