Ars longa, vita brevis

A strange thing has happened with the purchase of this Jose Ramirez classical guitar. I've discovered that I enjoy playing it and have dedicated myself to learning the proper techniques. This presents a number of challenges to someone who is in his sixties and has been playing guitar rather sloppily for more than forty years.

The first challenge is to learn the correct way play, to hold the guitar and place the hands and fingers. This is not all that difficult, except that in doing so I must also unlearn all of my well developed bad habits. It's not just a matter of knowing (which is mostly in the head), but of learning (which is mostly in the body and fingers).

So I have gone back to square one. I've gotten myself an excellent instruction book, Solo Guitar Playing, Book 1, by Frederick M. Noad. This is the best I've found for the basics, the fundamentals which is what I sorely need. He goes over everything in detail and follows very clear instructions with appropriate exercises. For the present I'm resisting the desire to play music and dedicating myself to the task at hand: learning my instrument.

But I'm also relearning a skill that I let lapse just about the same time I took to playing the acoustic guitar: reading music. As a child I had gone through years of music lessons and had become proficient on two instruments, one of which was the accordion. Yes, I know, it's a strange instrument, although not so strange if you grow up in San Antonio, Texas. When I was in high school I owned and performed fairly well on a beautiful accordion. But it was the 1960s and the music I was drawn to was folk and rock. The performers I admired were all playing guitars. And so I abandoned years of musical learning and experience and began teaching myself to play the guitar. It came so easily I thought I did not need lessons, just a few tips from other players along the way.

The guitar is a very interesting musical instrument. I have heard others say, and I have often repeated, that it is the easiest instrument to play and one of the hardest to play well. I believe this is true for all of the various styles of playing. That is why some who have mastered the instrument are so revered, especially by others who aspire to such a level of mastery. Playing the guitar builds character. It's a humbling experience. As with other musical instruments, you can master a particular piece for a time, but maintaining that level of performance requires constant practice. And the more you learn the more there is to learn.

Of course, I realize that I will never achieve true mastery, even on my own terms. That's not my goal. My goal is to learn to play the classical guitar and to perform a few easy pieces. That goal is within reach, and when I achieve it, I'll set myself some more ambitious mark. Having purchased a very fine student instrument, I want to do it justice. Then we'll see what comes next. And in the meanwhile, I will enjoy the discipline of learning.