I don't play the guitar

 

I used to play the guitar, but wandered off from it years ago.

 

Lately though, over the last few years, I’ve been finding music in my head.  I’ll hear a tune and find myself thinking about how I would play it if I still played.

 

Then at Becky’s house last summer, Tony picked up a guitar and asked me if I could show him a few chords.  I showed him a couple simple progressions I could remember.  With Becky’s encouragement, other things, a few old folk songs, tried to come back.  We sang a few phrases.  Turns out Charlie is still trapped on the MTA.  Most tunes couldn’t make it through the haze of time though.

 

I thought about it some more later on, and more songs came back to me, even without the guitar around.  I was playing it in my head.  Then at Matt’s house I saw this raggedy old guitar out on a stand in his office and recognized it.  That’s the guitar from my youth.  I had with me on Okinawa in the Army.  I took it to Viet Nam and it lived in a tent with me.  It flew home in front of me on the airliner when it was time.  I didn’t have a case and it wouldn’t fit in an overhead bin, so it rode between my knees for the 14 hour flight.  Now it’s 50 years old.

 

Matt graciously parted with the guitar and we brought it back to South Texas with us.  I got some new strings, a soft case, and a fancy digital tuner.  I’ve been plunking it a little.  I used to play some flamenco.  Bits of Malaguena have come back.  Parts of Gypsy Lament.  Fandanguillo.  A few old songs.  I find myself drawn to the more interesting chord progressions like House of the Rising Sun.  Am, C, D, F, Am, C, E.  You know; something that really builds.  There is so much power in that progression.

 

I picked plenty of flamenco when I was a teenager, but now realize that I always strummed accompaniment to songs.  There are other ways to accompany songs and picking would be powerful, but I didn’t explore that.  I never learned to Travis Pick, but with the power of Google, I’m working on it now.  Maybe I could put it somewhere a person wouldn’t expect it to be.

 

Okay.  Maybe I play guitar a little.