Blog one: the guitar = awsumness

Hello and welcome

This blog is now way more cooler cos I get to talk about things that actually interest me (sorry PO1). A whole paper and assignment writing about guitars! how cool is that?!

 "The most important part of my religion is to play guitar" ~ Lou Reed

This quote really sums up how important guitar is to me, some people have gods, animals, people and other things to believe in and guide their life. For me the guitar is of high importance and this quote pretty much expresses what I feel as well =)


So a little about me and my chose occupation. I started playing guitar when I was about 16 so that makes it 6 years I've been playing. I play a wide range of different styles from country to metal and I love all of it. Being a hostel boy I didn't have much to do in my spare time so I picked up this instrument in the hope that it would improve my boredom and maybe my social life (fail). The only thing I could play for awhile while was "smoke on the water" like everyone else starts of playing and eventually I started to learn more songs. I had an Asian fella who taught me a wee bit, don't know his real name, chin chew or something, we called him Slushy. Any who he told me I was rubbish and I'd never get better, he sat there playing under the bridge by RHCP smirking while I was playing 1 string, I wish I saw him again today cos man would he be shocked.

Over the years and playing LOTS of guitar its changed me as a person I guess in a way, music is a huge part of my identity and who I am, its where I can express my feelings being happiness or anger. Its also a good way of relaxing and bringing people together. I could sit here for a week telling whoever reads this how much I love it and how important it is for my mental and physical health but I must carry on, basically in a nut shell if I go deaf or lose any of my fingers my life will not be "meaningful" and I will not be around on this earth for much longer!

On a much more pleasant note lets analyze the hell out of the awsumness that is guitar using the headings: Person, activity and environment.

Person

• Preference: there are many things to consider here such as what type of guitar you would like, could be an acoustic or an electric, in these two types you also have different sounds the guitar can make due to what type of pick ups they have (use google, cant give you all the answers). Next could be what type of genre of music do you wanna play? what colour? types of picks? strings? etc etc there is a lot of room for preference here.
• Age: Since I have to talk about myself for this I'd say I picked an alright time to pick up this instrument, to be honest I wish I picked it up earlier, like 12 and I did! but my teacher wanted me to learn "Mary had a little lamb" and to be honest I didn't wanna learn crap like that! I was listening to "californication" album by RHCP at that point, not Mary had a little lamb! so that put me off =(. Any way so I think 16 is still a good age to pick it up, you don't really wanna be 80 and pick it up, guess you could but its something you'd wanna enjoy for you whole life not just like 6weeks or something haha.
• Confidence: This has improved dramatically over the years, I can say I am confident enough to paly in public and have, I can write my own material, play with other people. I am confident in what I play but that doesn't mean I can go out and play some massive solo, cos I don't like that sort of thing (basically I cant do it), I'm more of a strummer not a picker!
• Agency: why do I do this? cos it makes me happy, I feel really good when I can play a song from a band I like and it sounds mean, I really love it when I can create my own sounds and I feel it through my body.........
• Body: You  dont have to be fit or anything like that. You do however have to get over the fact you fingers hurt when you first start playing, thats when most people quit "wah wah my fingers hurt" get over it, its rock and roll! Oh I also cant play certain chords cos my pinky is extremely short, it sucks =(
• Spirituality: My life abides by the god of rock, he will come down from the heavens and bless us all with the power of rock and cast away the demons on his earth that is know as hip hop, rap and justin bieber and bring forth ACTUAL musical talent and the world will again have happiness! |Basically the 60's all over again! Yes music is my religion, I can see it, hear it, feel it, and express it, that's more than I can say most other religions......ouch!
• time available: there is no time limit for rock! rock should and is every second of the day! you can play whenever you like! some people will feel like they cant play during work or school etc and fair enough but basically what I'm saying is, there in no real time restrictions for playing guitar.

Activity 

• Adaption: wow this is a big one so I might just skim this one a bit, here we go.......acoustic vs electric, amps, pedals, strings, picks, whammy bars, people, environment, electricity, body, how much food you've had, how much substances you've had...... lots and lots! you can adapt the guitar so you can kill the planet with it!
• Pacing: hmmmmmm its music there fore its not a repetitive thing, e.g. its not working at the freezing works, standing in one spot for 9 hours turning around packages on a conveyor belt so they're straight. No. this is guitar and music, its got rhythm and lots of it, so many different kinds of strumming its not even funny, I literally cannot talk about that, My fingers will receive carpel tunnel from writing. Moving the wrist up and down I guess could be pacing?????????
• Spatial orientation:  you can sit, stand, or spread out on the floor. 

Environment

• Physical: Anywhere that is socially and morally expected or safe. Maybe not in water as you could get electrocuted. I play at home, friends, street, and pubs. I sit or stand.
• Social: play with other people be it at home or their home or at a set venue. Great way of socialising!
• Cultural: Different cultures have different sounds and where they play them. This could be music is only meant for church or a set occasion etc. Different cultures have a certain sound e.g. maori/pacific islanders, as soon as they pick up a guitar you know what its gonna sound like cos that's the only style they do, to be honest I think they need to expand more cos its not that great.........
• Political: haters say that one should not play where it might distract or annoy other people, there a certain rules such as noise restrictions and times, these are put in place by the "man" or people who love the "man" people who are basically slaves and have no meaning in their lives and are bored, and/or jealous they cant play and understand such a cool instrument!

Well that's basically it for blog one: the guitar =awsumness, by now you would have realised I am not very P.C and that's the way a-hah, a-hah, i like it.

rock on!

Reza Ganjavi. (2011). Quotes about art, music, guitar. Retrieved from http://home.datacomm.ch/rezamusic/quote_music.html