Guitar Hero

My very first memory of being near a guitar was picking up my mothers huge acoustic guitar. It was always zipped away in its black case. I never saw her play it and to be honest I don't think she ever could. It was one of those ambitions adults have that never come to fruition. Only when little old me came along would the burly instrument see the light of day. Of course it was met with the usual cries of 'Leave that alone' or 'Put it away'. I don't know how old I was, maybe 8 or 9 so a full sized acoustic was like holding a double bass. It was also right handed. I don't know if it was then I discovered my natural way of holding a guitar or later. I didn't know the first thing about playing or tuning it so I would just strum away. When I was at primary school they started doing after school guitar lessons one year. So as any child does I asked my parents if I could have a guitar. They obliged and I vaguely remember getting my first right handed acoustic guitar. This is where the problem arose, it was right handed. I know that I really tried to learn how to play that thing but I just couldn't. There was something wrong and I didn't know what. Why was everyone else mastering it and not me? As every child does I eventually got bored and stopped learning, more through frustration I think. It was years later that it clicked that maybe if I had a left handed guitar I would be able to play. I was at an age where I had a job and could afford to buy myself one. So what did I buy? Yes, a black and white Stratocaster. My first adult guitar was electric and it came with an amp. I didn't want a boring acoustic I wanted to be a rocker. I bought myself books and a DVD. The DVD was specifically for lefties but the books were for righties so I spent ages figuring out the chords. I remember those first tricky attempts at playing. I just couldn't master this bloody guitar. Maybe this wasn't the instrument for me. Maybe I just wasn't meant to play the guitar in any shape or form. I kind of have up if I'm honest. One day after many filled with frustration I picked my guitar up. That day I had my eureka! moment. I actually strung some chords together. This gave me the motivation to carry on learning. Now there's one thing that I find highly irritating about myself. Impatience. If I can't do something straight away I get bored. The same with my guitar. Rather than bother to get lessons again or start with the basics, I wanted to learn songs. This is how I have learnt to play. This is how I have learnt chords and picking. I haven't played my guitar for a while but I picked it up the other day determined to learn a specific song. I bought a capo purely so I could learn this one song. It took a few hours but eventually I managed to stick together the picking pattern and chord changes. There was no other way to describe it than pure delight. Even though I haven't picked up a guitar for what may be months that day I felt like I had been playing for years. It felt so good hearing the music I was making. It even gave me the confidence to try and create my own music. I'll be no Eric Clapton and I'll never be able to play like my favourite musicians. What I do know is, my guitar won't be like my mothers hidden away in it's case with nobody able to play it.