I'm fine. Been looking over this site and have found it to be informative and full of learning opportunities for guitarists at any stage, in any groove. Makes it a keeper in my browser's link bar, someplace to go for a break from the usual Internet fair of overly excited political commentaries, news reports shot full of annoying marketing tricks, and the ever-present crazy cats.
My history with guitar goes back to 1962 (ten years old) and the Sears Silvertone my father got me for Christmas. Dad could shake the house with his yodeling, big deal for the country music of his prime. Duane Eddy was my hero back then, followed later by Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Gatton, Gibbons, a bunch of others.. Then there came the country blues, harmonica blown like a horn, gigging, jazz, an emotional breakdown, revitalization through classical, busking around tourist spots, playing little venues, a trip to the end-of-life hell known as hospice, and now back to the axe and box as part of the recovery. It's good for the mind and body. Necessary for the soul.
The hospice nurse said I've got lots of years left if I keep away from alcohol, which isn't very hard these days. It has taken about a year to get the guitar hands back, but like in other stages, they're different. A bit more painful but a lot more educated. It's also nice to be in no hurry to make a name, gather money, all that bull pucky. I have absolutely no interest in the music-making business. Will likely do busking and the little gigs again, since it's good to share for tips only. Or not, doesn't seem important any longer.
I'm not sure why, but there's something about music I need to master before passing on. Like the Grand Unification Theory in physics, the thing is just beyond my grasp but is likely real simple. Simply overlooked? Or it could just be the mind inventing busy-work, creating a reason to be. Old question, eh? To be or not to be.
And I'm back to working out Duane Eddy tunes, twang-do-wha-twang-de-ding-dong dip dip yup. Maybe it's in there somewhere, something my ten-year-old brain couldn't comprehend. Or it's not there but leads out to it?
Whatever, sure beats bingo night.
Oh, and I completely subscribe to the philosophy on this site that music theory is an attempt to describe how music works but is not itself music. It's like how the word cat isn't the same as a feline mammal yowling its lonesomeness to the night. Like a freaking human baby! There's no one word for that, nor any theory that encomapsses what music really is. Like mathematics, it's representative language, not the thing being represented. Big Bang theory is not the Big Bang.
So shaddup an' play yer guitar already! Okay. See yah around the old staves/strings/reeds & etc. =o)
Ray
