(Revised)
Present, to Hobby, to Life
My Guitar
March 21st, 2003
Today was the best birthday ever! I finally got the guitar I’ve been asking for year after year. I know my parents only got me it because my best friend had one, and they saw how jealous I was. Well thank god because I really wanted this. I went the whole day through school wondering what I was going to get. I’m a kid in 7th grade and it is my birthday, I have every right to be excited. When I finally got off the bus I ran all the way to my house with out one stop, but I came to a halt when I reached the front door. I heard this loud annoying noise coming from inside and then finally the sound was clear, it was a guitar. I busted through the door to see my dad trying to play some older material he use to be able to play. I think the song was Iron Man by Black Sabbath, but all I could hear was his unfinished chords that sounded more dead than one hit wonders. The rest of the night I think I held the guitar in my hands with out even playing it. I have no idea how to yet but I know I want to learn and will, starting tomorrow.
Good night world
Andrew
May 2nd, 2004
Today I had a break through with my guitar. I finally learned how to read guitar tabs on the internet and could start learning music I wanted to. My friend Matt showed me how to read the music and it was quite simple, but yet very hard to play. I took a look at some Blink-182 tabs and found out fast how much strain it is on your fingers. It only took five minutes before the finger stretching started to get to me. I sat in front of my computer for three straight hours until I could play enough of the song that some one could tell what it was. Quickly, I called one of my friends to come over and I starting playing the song for him. He named the song in seconds, and at that point I became in love my little black guitar. I absolutely loved the fact that I could now produce the music of my favorite bands. If I wanted to, I could now play songs I like and not listen to them. Today was a good day, and I can’t wait to start a new song tomorrow.
Good Night
Andrew
Jan 14th, 2005
Today was my last class of guitar in high school. I’m going to miss Mr. K and his tough, but brilliant ways of teaching. Plus I don’t get to hear him shred anymore which was my favorite part of the class. Every time other students and I walked in he was always improving some ridiculous guitar solo. Then he would bust out a joke like, “this is what you’re learning today and being tested on it. No excuses make it happen, and if you don’t here are some tissues, go cry somewhere.” Yes he was joking but he really did say this stuff and I loved it, because it never applied to me. Unlike most of the kids in that class, I took the class to learn the guitar, not to just sit around and slack off doing nothing. This showed too. Mr. K knew I was one of the students who is taking his class seriously, and actually learning the material. He always told me to keep playing guitar, your learning fast and have potential. That meant a lot to me hearing it from such a well accomplished musician. With out Mr. K I would have never learned to count out tempos, read actual noted music, scales, fingering positions and all these essential basics that now make me that much better. His class is over but I know I’ll be applying his class to all my future playing.
Until next time,
Andrew
June 17th, 2007
Summer time! Schools out and now I can spend every morning practicing some new material on my guitar. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I got this guitar and how far I’ve taken it. I would have never expected this sound producer would take over my life. There is not one day that goes by when I don’t touch my guitar at least 5 times. As I’m sitting here now writing this diary entry, my guitar is strapped on and ready to go. It is always in my hands. It’s like it became a new body part. I want to take my guitar playing to a new level this summer. I got my hands trained well to play different kinds of music, but that’s just hearing the music and leaning to play it. Over this summer I want to learn to listen to the music. Study theory that explains why this chords goes with this scale, and how to determine what “key” a song is written in. Even better yet, I want to be able to learn songs by only ear, no internet. This is going to be a tough goal, but I want to learn and there’s so much to learn. I wish Mr. K taught more classes.
Peace,
Andrew
May 15th, 2008
Tonight kicked ass! I have never been so proud of my self. I played my first live song at our school variety show. My last name may be singer but I am no singer. I only played an instrumental but it was a sick song on guitar, by the band Perpetual Groove. I was so nervous to play in front of so many people. I get nervous playing for my dad. Anyway it was me on guitar, my friend Mike on bass and my other friend Penny on the drums. Penny and Mike started off the song and I come in shortly after. In those few moments of waiting to begin my guitar part in song was so nerve racking. I was shaking so bad I didn’t think I could play but the show must go on. I started playing the first chords of the song and right there I had the audience hooked. My guitar was played through some effect pedals which gave it a sick, rich and different sound. It repeats till I move in to the next repetitive but mesmerizing guitar riff. This is wear the song gets good and this is the hardest part, but after getting started I was lost in the song. I was feeling it so well and was just in zone playing this soft mellow sound. At this point in song there this trippy mood that is in the air and everyone seemed hypnotized. That changes quickly when I flip on my distortion box, which gives a guitar that heavy, loud, dark sound (Johnson). Here the song turned from a groove to this simple but powerful rock riff that gets the crowed out of their hypnotic stage into a lets rock stage. The song finishes soon after that point and when the song did end there was a few seconds of silence. Then the crowd roared and I was so excited I felt embarrassed. I love playing the guitar. Best night of my life.
Goodnight,
Andrew
March 19th, 2009
Damn I had a rough day in classes to day at college but thank god I have my guitar to play to fix my mood. While I was playing I started thinking. I have more than 6 years of playing under my belt at this point. I can easily say that for the last 2 years my guitar became my hobby. Any free time I had was spent playing the guitar. If I wasn’t playing then I was on the internet searching new scales, or learning different approaches to playing arpeggios and all that good stuff. I’m so happy to have accomplished that goal I set last summer in learning to listen to my guitar playing and not just hearing it. I’ve taken my playing to whole new levels by learning to listen. I was only hearing the music I played for the longest time. Then it came to point of the only way to tell if I like a song was how the guitar sounded. Seriously when I listen to music now, I can barley hear the lyrics, I just pick up the sounds of the guitar. I love thinking back to the first tune I learn, twinkle twinkle little star, and how I can now listen to most songs, find a scale that fits in the song, then solo the whole way through it. At this point and time I can easily say, hands down, that playing the guitar is my life and will be till the day I die. In the words of Bob Marley, “A wise man once told me he said, that music is the one thing that surrounds you, you feel no pain”(Jennifer). This is what I live by.
Work Cited
Jennifer. Anyway by O.A.R. Mar 17, 2009. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6175
Johnson, G. (2005, Sept). How to Set Up a Distortion Pedal. Retrieved March 19th, 2009, from http://www.ehow.com/how_4778528_set-up-distortion-pedal.html
Pre write goals – This is the essay I’ve been waiting to write the whole class. Finally I get to talk about my passion for music and guitar. I’m happy to have a lot of freedom to write this essay. I want to write a diary that goes through time and explains how I came to love music and guitar, which is one of the biggest parts of my life. I will start roughly about 8th grade when I got my first guitar and take it up to about this point, my freshman year in college. These will probably being like a narrative diary. This paper must be 4-5 pages in length and include 3 outside sources. I will write the paper in APA format.
Present, to Hobby, to Life
My Guitar
March 21st, 2003
Today was the best birthday ever! I finally got the guitar I’ve been asking for forever. I know my parents only got me it because my best friend had one, and they saw how jealous I was. Well thank god because I really wanted this. I went the whole day through school wondering what I was going to get. I’m a kid in 7th grade and it is my birthday, I have every right to be excited. When I finally got off the bus I ran all the way to my house with out one stop, but I came to a halt when I reached the front door. I heard this loud annoying noise coming from inside and then finally the sound was clear, it was a guitar. I busted through the door to see my dad trying to play some older material he use to be able to play. All I could hear was unfinished chords that sounded more dead than one hit wonders. The rest of the night I think I held the guitar in my hands with out even playing it. I have no idea how to yet but I know I want to learn and will, starting tomorrow.
Good night world
Andrew
May 2nd, 2004
Today I had a break through with my guitar. I finally learned how to read guitar tabs on the internet and could start learning music I wanted to. My friend Matt showed me how to read the music and it was quite simple, but yet hard to play. I took a look at some Blink 182 tabs and found out fast how much strain it is on your fingers. I sat in front of my computer for three straight hours until I could play enough of the song that some one could tell what it was. Quickly I got my one of my friends over and starting playing the song for him. He named the song in seconds, and at that point I became in love my little black guitar. I absolutely loved the fact I could now produce the sounds of my favorite songs. If I wanted to, I could now play songs I like and not listen to them. Today was a good day; I can’t wait to start a new song tomorrow.
Good Night
Andrew
Jan 14th, 2005
Today was my last class of guitar in high school. I’m gonna miss Mr. K and his tough but brilliant ways of teaching. Plus I don’t get to hear him shred anymore which was my favorite part of the class. Every time other students and I walked in he was always improving some ridiculous guitar solo and he bust out a joke like, “this is what you’re learning today and being tested on it. No excuses make it happen, and if you don’t here is some tissues, go cry somewhere.” Yes he was joking but he really did say this stuff and I loved it, because it never applied to me. Unlike most of the kids in that class, I took the class to learn the guitar, not just sit around and slack off doing nothing. This showed too, Mr. K knew I was one of the students who taking in his material and actually learning it. He always told me to keep playing guitar, keep playing, your learning fast and have potential and that meant a lot to me hearing that from such a well accomplished musician. With out Mr. K I would have never learned to count out tempos, read actual noted music, scales, fingering positions just all these essential basics that now make me that much better. His class is over but I know I’ll be applying his class to all my future playing.
Until next time,
Andrew
June 17th, 2007
Summer time! Schools out and now I can spend every morning practicing some new material on the guitar. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I got this guitar and how far I’ve taken it. I would have never expected this sound producer would take over my life. There is not one day that goes by when I don’t touch my guitar at least 5 times. As I’m sitting here now writing this diary entry, my guitar strapped on and ready to go. It is always in my hands. It like new body part. I want to take my guitar playing to a new level this summer. I got my hands trained well to play different kinds of music, but that’s just hearing the music and leaning to play it. Over this summer I want to learn to listen to the music. Study theory that explains why this chords goes with this scale, and how to determine what “key” a song is written in. Even better yet, I want to be able to learn songs by only ear, no internet. This is going to be a tough goal, but I want to learn and there’s so much to learn. I wish Mr. K taught more classes.
Peace,
Andrew
May 15th, 2008
Tonight kicked ass! I have never been so proud of my self. I played my first live song at our school variety show. My last name may be singer but I am no singer. I only played an instrumental but it was a sick song on guitar, by the band Perpetual Groove. I was so nervous to play in front of so many people. I get scared in front of playing for my dad. Anyway it was me on guitar, my friend Mike on bass and my other friend Penny on the drums. Penny and Mike started off the song and I come in shortly after. In those few moments of waiting to begin the guitar in song was like pure trembles. I was shaking so bad I didn’t think I could play but the show must go on. I started playing the first chords of the song and right there I had the audience hooked. They were played through some effect pedals which gave them a sick, rich and different sound. It repeats till I move in to the next repetitive but mesmerizing guitar riff. This is wear the song gets good and this is the hardest part, but after getting started I was lost in the song. I was feeling it so well and was just in zone playing this soft mellow sound. At this point in song there this trippy mood that is in the air and everyone seemed hypnotized. That changes quickly when I flip on my distortion box, which gives a guitar that heavy, loud, dark sound (Johnson). Here the song turned from a groove to this simple but powerful rock riff that gets the crowed out of their hypnotic stage into a lets rock stage. The song finishes soon after that point and when the song did end there was a few seconds of silence. Then the crowd roared and I was so excited I felt embarrassed. I love playing the guitar. Best night of my life.
Andrew
March 19th, 2009
Damn I had a rough day in classes to day at college but thank god I have my guitar to play and get lost in. While I was playing I started thinking. I have more than 6 years of playing under my belt at this point. I can easily say that for the last 2 years my guitar became my hobby. Any free time I had was spent playing the guitar. If I wasn’t playing then I was on the internet searching new scales, or learning different approaches to playing arpeggios and all that good stuff. I’m so happy to have accomplished that goal I set last summer in learning to listen to my guitar playing and not just hearing it. I’ve taken my playing to whole new levels by learning to listen. I was only hearing the music I played for the longest time. Then it came to point of the only way to tell if I like a song was how the guitar sounded. Seriously when I listen to music now, I can barley hear the lyrics, I just pick up the sounds of the guitar. I love thinking back to the first tune I learn, twinkle twinkle little star, and how I can now listen to most songs, find a scale that fits in the song, then solo the whole way through it. At this point and time I can easily say, hands down, that playing the guitar is my life and will be till the day I die. In the words of Bob Marley, “A wise man once told me he said, that music is the one thing that surrounds you, you feel no pain”(Jennifer). This is what I live by.
Work Cited
Jennifer. Anyway by O.A.R. Mar 17, 2009. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6175
Johnson, G. (2005, Sept). How to Set Up a Distortion Pedal. Retrieved March 19th, 2009, from http://www.ehow.com/how_4778528_set-up-distortion-pedal.html
Post write – This paper was awesome. I am going to need to take time to edit this one well because it like our final evaluation of the editing process. I want it to be at its best because this essay was written on something I love more than anything else right now. I feel like I reach my goals well in this paper. It shows from day one when I got my guitar to this last week of college. I explain my love for the sound of guitar and how I transferred from hearing the guitar to listening.
