Guitar Student 3.0

On Friday July 25, I had my first guitar lesson. Not the first ever, but the first as a serious guitar student. My two previous versions of Guitar Student were not particularly successful, but went well enough to convince me to continue. Briefly, they went something like this:

Guitar Student 1.0

I was living in Scotland and was also busy being Doctoral Candidate 1.0. Having lusted after a guitar my entire life and decided that it was "now or never," I talked my friends Matt and Adam into going shopping with me in Edinburgh to test guitars that would be suitable for beginners. I eventually settled on a Yamaha F310. The lessons themselves were given by Matt in exchange for cooking lessons. So we'd meet on Sunday afternoons at my place and he'd give me a lesson and I'd show him how to cook something. Given that I was already heavily invested in being Doctoral Candidate 1.0, it was probably a bit silly to think that I'd actually have time to learn to play the guitar. In any case, I didn't.

Guitar Student 2.0

I moved to Washington, DC after finishing my studies and was anxious to pick up where I left off. I don't remember where I found my guitar teacher, Craigslist perhaps, but I was happy with him in any case. But here again, the realities of everyday life—particularly the new job—meant that I didn't really have as much time to invest in my instrument as I had hoped, and after three lessons I called it quits.

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The new and improved version of my life as a guitar student (Guitar Student 3.0) has many advantages over the previous models. First of all, I'm in Berlin, where everything is just better on principle . . . except for dog poo and no shopping on Sunday. I'm self-employed, which means that my schedule is flexible; my living situation means that can practice during the day when I'm at home alone, which is incredibly important for beginners who are always embarrassed because they know that they don't sound that great. Also critical, is that I've apparently hit the Guitar Teacher jackpot. There will be more about him later, in the meantime, just think Zen.


Perhaps the most important element this time around is age. Of course there is that adage, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," to which I have to respond, "Good thing I'm not a dog then." What I am is a music lover, who on some level wants to be a music maker as well. I am also keen on having a new project: one in which the the steady advance in skills will inspire me to keep going; one in which I spend less time on the Internet and more time challenging my aging brain to learn something new; and finally, one in which my lifelong philosophy—"why not give it a shot?"—is once again tested. 


The purpose of this blog is to document the effort and hopefully garner some support along the way. I welcome your comments, tips, advice, and whatever else you think might be useful.