On being the N00B, and how aliens are among us
I find myself being something I haven’t been in a long time: a N00B. I am, at least on this site, and amongst the crowd of people who make up this site, the new guy. I’ve only been playing an instrument for around two years, and if you ask my roomie (who is also one of the members of this Motley Crew), who must put up with my mis-fingerings and…interesting musical ear, it shows. It’s a new experience, and one I’m rather enjoying, which may be surprising to a lot of folks.
But I like the newness. I like the idea that every time I pick up my Les Paul, and open my Hal Leonard book, (yeah, I have all three Hal Leonard Guitar books, and I like them too, so nyah!), that something new, really new. might happen. For the first time in a very long while, I’m picking up something that isn’t a derivative of something I do really well already, (Computers, Writing, Speaking). I’m discovering things that I never would have thought to be true before.
Like standing up and playing. You watch people like Jimmy Page, or Allison Robertson, and you think that playing guitar standing up is about as hard as running faster than a fish. So you get a strap and you try it.
Fish run real fast when you aren’t watching. They’re sneaky little bastards they are.
Holy moly Caped Crusader!, where’d the friggin’ frets go? Just when I thought I was getting the hang of things, I find out that standing up is different. Forget singing and playing at once. That’s obviously only possible if you’re some kind of genetic mutant. Yes, that’s right, I’ll say it. Singing and playing guitar simultaneously are a sign that you’re one of our new alien overlords. Don’t believe me? How many people do it well? Yeah, see? Aliens.
But it’s not even that. Who’da thought that chords could be so tricky. I’ve been using all ten of my fingers for things besides flinging poop at tourists for almost thirty – nine years, yet two years ago, someone replaced my fingers with new ones, and they suck. I know, I’ve been playing air guitar longer than many people have been alive, I’m a shreddin’ FOOL, so obviously, someone replaced my smooth – shreddin’ fingers with new clumsy ones. Who are the only people who can do this? That’s right, Aliens! Laugh if you will, but in your hearts, you know I’m right.
Okay, so along with aliens, playing guitar well is some hard work. Especially if your two favorite guitarists are Jimmy Page and Prince. Yeah, there’s some simple licks. Here’s a hint…anyone says Page is a blues guitarist, you kick them in the ass. That chord-lovin’ fool is a folkie from Shlamolkie, and I’ve got the notation to prove it. But there’s something really…cool about hearing, no matter how ragged and buzzy, the sounds of “Day Tripper”, “Sunshine of your Love”, and “Misty Mountain Hop” coming off of your guitar, and realizing that your hands are making that sound. That’s heady stuff.
Or listening to the same music you’ve always loved, but it’s different. Instead of just hearing the what of the music, you’re starting to hear the how, and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of the why. When I hear songs like “Blue Highway” and realize that I can almost put together what Steve Stevens is doing…wow. Just…wow.
I haven’t had that wow in a while. I mean, most of what I do, I’ve been doing for years, decades even. In certain areas, I’ll even compare myself to people like Prince. I’m good at what I do for a living, and I’m rightly proud of it. There’s a lot of things I do that are cool, and fun, and I enjoy them. But new? You can’t have new year after year. After a while, you start to notice elements of the past in something you thought of as new. So when you run across something that’s new, really new, in that bright, sparkling, present you told no one about because you didn’t think you’d ever get it kind of way, that’s really special.
Playing guitar is new, and no matter how much work new requires, it’s cooler than any AppleScript I’ll ever write again.
Technorati Tags: Guitar, Musical N00b
December 31st, 2005 at 11:56 am
w00t!
Well said, John!