Stringing myself along...
Jun. 4th, 2003 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursangnomeIt is staring at me.
It sits there, surrounded by the excesive clutter of my room, among the detrius of books and papers that builds up from insufficient need to clear the deck. It stares, with a slightly disapproving, slightly impatient eye. It waits, covered with a thin film of dust, leaning right where I left it specifically so it would stare at me.
It is a guitar, though not a particularly impressive one. It's an inexpensive, three-quarter sized acoustic, with nylon strings, originally purchased many years ago as a possible form of physical therapy for my brother. It didn't work very well for that, so it was set aside for other things without really being used. My brother eventually passed away. When I was home for X-mas, my mother asked if I wanted the thing, 'cause if I didn't she was going to toss it.
So, it's not a highly valuable thing, either in dollars or in sentimental terms. It's staring at me simply because I don't know how to play it.
There are a number of barriers here. One is simple activation energy - learning to play a musical instrument isn't a small task, and it takes a bit of oomph to start. Another is that it seems like sitting in my room along with a book or web page plucking at strings would be a remarkably boring, lonely, and uninspiring way to approach the task, but I cannot afford to hire a teacher. But, perhaps most of all, guitars are cool.
I don't respond well to "cool", or to peer pressure. I learned a long time ago that if I pick up a thing because of it's "cool factor", I ended up disappointed, but only after expenditure of time, effort, and/or money. The rule holds for books, TV, clothes, musical instruments, pretty much anything. I eventually learned a sort of aversion to cool things. My personal tastes are generally on the geeky, uncool side of things, so if I avoid coolness, I tend to find stuff I enjoy.
But occasionally there's a case where the thing my own tastes lean towards is also cool. Guitars are about the coolest musical instrument in our culture. My brother plays guitar. Many of my Lady's friends play guitar. So, do I want to pick the thing up because I'd be joining the crowd, or because I love the sound of the thing and would get satisfaction from making that sound with my own hands. If the former, I'm gonna spend a goodly amount of time with it, but eventually get bored and put it aside without gaining much from it. If that's how it's going to be, I'm better of using that time reading good books, or doing something constructive.
Toughie. I've felt it staring at me for about a month, now. How much longer do I wait to see if that staring feeling goes away?
It sits there, surrounded by the excesive clutter of my room, among the detrius of books and papers that builds up from insufficient need to clear the deck. It stares, with a slightly disapproving, slightly impatient eye. It waits, covered with a thin film of dust, leaning right where I left it specifically so it would stare at me.
It is a guitar, though not a particularly impressive one. It's an inexpensive, three-quarter sized acoustic, with nylon strings, originally purchased many years ago as a possible form of physical therapy for my brother. It didn't work very well for that, so it was set aside for other things without really being used. My brother eventually passed away. When I was home for X-mas, my mother asked if I wanted the thing, 'cause if I didn't she was going to toss it.
So, it's not a highly valuable thing, either in dollars or in sentimental terms. It's staring at me simply because I don't know how to play it.
There are a number of barriers here. One is simple activation energy - learning to play a musical instrument isn't a small task, and it takes a bit of oomph to start. Another is that it seems like sitting in my room along with a book or web page plucking at strings would be a remarkably boring, lonely, and uninspiring way to approach the task, but I cannot afford to hire a teacher. But, perhaps most of all, guitars are cool.
I don't respond well to "cool", or to peer pressure. I learned a long time ago that if I pick up a thing because of it's "cool factor", I ended up disappointed, but only after expenditure of time, effort, and/or money. The rule holds for books, TV, clothes, musical instruments, pretty much anything. I eventually learned a sort of aversion to cool things. My personal tastes are generally on the geeky, uncool side of things, so if I avoid coolness, I tend to find stuff I enjoy.
But occasionally there's a case where the thing my own tastes lean towards is also cool. Guitars are about the coolest musical instrument in our culture. My brother plays guitar. Many of my Lady's friends play guitar. So, do I want to pick the thing up because I'd be joining the crowd, or because I love the sound of the thing and would get satisfaction from making that sound with my own hands. If the former, I'm gonna spend a goodly amount of time with it, but eventually get bored and put it aside without gaining much from it. If that's how it's going to be, I'm better of using that time reading good books, or doing something constructive.
Toughie. I've felt it staring at me for about a month, now. How much longer do I wait to see if that staring feeling goes away?
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:18 pm (UTC)As for motivations, I think I detect enough self-motivation in your introspective post. Just do it for yourself. If other people like the result, that's fine. But do it because you want to.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-05 08:40 am (UTC)Once before, many years ago, I made an attempt to learn to play guitar. I was in high school. It was summertime. My parents were of the sort to say, "Your grades are good, you will be moderately well-funded so long as that continues". I had money to go grab a burger with my friends, catch mnovies, moderately indulge my book-addiction and other hobbies. So long as I didn't want something expensive, like a car, I didn't need a job. So I had lots and lots of time on my hands.
So, I picked up my father's unused, steel stringed guitar, and started playing. With much youthful determination and enthusiasm... and stupidity. The book I had did most of the beginning work on the smaller, high-pitched strings. I realized that this would uncomforatable until I built up callouses, so I ignored the discomfort.
Thus leading me right into a Bryan Adams song, and playing until my fingers bled, literally. I had to put the thing down until they healed. And by the time I was ready to pick it up again, school was back in session, and I didn't have the free time.
At least this time, working on nylon, I'm far more likely to play until the muscles of my hand get tired than until I bleed.
Your book advice sounds very reasonable to me. Luckily, I happen to enjoy a great range of folksy music, so a trip to a few bookstores will probably scare up a book decent for me.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:31 pm (UTC)amotng other things my mother promisedme contact info for an incredible teacher, who charges next to nothing due to the fact htat he is russian and does ths for cash. want info once i get it? for that matter, wnat to loo kat hte book at some point?
no subject
Date: 2003-06-05 08:29 am (UTC)Also, in this case, I may have a choice. Let's say I do pick it up and stay serious with it. The guitar I have is certainly good enough to start with. And while I could work with it indefinitely, if I find I'm really going to continue long-term, I'm probably going to strongly want to drop some cash into a full sized instrument. That'd be far easier if I take the inexpensive (if longer and harder) route to learning.
Patience...
Date: 2003-06-04 09:51 pm (UTC)Re: Patience...
Date: 2003-06-05 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-06 09:26 am (UTC)Personally, I've tried about a dozen different instruments. The only one I've ever gotten even remotely competent at was the hammered dulcimer. Partly that's because I had a use for it (occasionally playing dance music), but mostly it was because I found myself enjoying the activity for its own sake, as a good way to blow off steam. The hammers just work for me as a meditative tool. OTOH, I didn't find that out until going through a bunch of other instruments (including guitar) that didn't actually float my boat enough to stick with them.
My recommendation (based on what worked for me) is to pick a duration -- a month, maybe -- and prod yourself into playing with it semi-regularly for that long. At the end, see how you feel about it. If it's work, then it probably isn't the right thing to be doing. If it's fun, then it is...