You a
guitarist? Yeah? No? If you’re not, go right now to a music shop and buy one.
Really. This is one of the best suggestions I could give to you. Let me ask you
something, what according to you is the best instrument in the world? Some of
you might say drums. Others, the piano. I say, the guitar is the coolest
instrument in the universe. You disagree? Just once, play the E minor chord on
the guitar. You’d know why.
My brother
Mihir, in 2010, went on a strike. He demanded a guitar. If his wish was not
fulfilled, he wouldn't agree to whatever my parents and I said. I don’t know why, but my parents
really fulfilled his wish. I kept opposing them, saying that Mihir would just
buy it and keep it as a decoration. And yes, the same happened. The guitar
bought was a black acoustic guitar. It looked quite cool. But for the next
three years, the guitar gathered dust in the storage area.
In March
2014, finally I decided to try out the guitar. The exams were over, so there
was nothing to stop me. I tried to learn some chords by watching videos on the
internet, but the videos I saw totally disappointed me. I lost interest in the
instrument and it was kept in the storage for another month.
When the
school reopened in April, I was promoted to the ninth grade. I made a lot of
friends. One of the friends I made, Siddharth is an experienced guitarist. I
saw this as my chance. I tried to extract whatever was possible about playing
the guitar. He gave me quite a lot of good information and asked me to watch
the videos of this person named Marty.
I have to
call Marty my first guru of guitar. His way of teaching is better than everyone
else I’ve seen on YouTube. I learnt my very first song, or tune from him.
Summer holidays came. I remained glued to the computer screen watching his
videos all day long. There was this one thing that bothered me a bit. The strings, when
you start to play, really dig into your fingers. Though my fingers hurt a lot, that didn't stop me from learning the guitar.
In May,
during the holidays, I came to know that a guitar teacher had come to teach in
my society. My joy knew no bounds. I joined the class the very first day. The
teacher’s name is Sachin. He is a very nice guy. And an incredible teacher. He
started his teaching with a lead song. Playing lead for the first time is
impossibly hard. First of all, if you’re a right handed person, I’m sure you
won’t have any control over the fingers of your left hand. The right hand only does the strumming part. The
left hand has to go to the correct place on the guitar’s fret board and then
press the string. I thought of playing the guitar left handed. In that case, I’d
have to only do the strumming with the left hand. But that was even harder.
Just about then, I thought of giving up.
Still, I
continued the classes. After some days, I got some control over my left hand.
Though the hand was not speedy enough, I was able to play the correct notes.
Within a month of serious practising, I was able to call myself an amateur
guitarist. I must say, I became good at it. I was able to play fluently.
Then I gave
my first ever performance on the guitar. On the Indian Independence day, I with
my three friends played the national anthem in front of a real audience. Within
15 days, on Ganesh Chaturthi, I performed solo with my guitar and my voice. The
guitar accompaniment increased the performance quality and I was able to put up
a good show, all thanks to my guitar.
I still am
learning more songs and this learning is endless. And please, please learn the
guitar if you haven’t. I have experienced that it reduces stress and relaxes
and rejuvenates the mind, along with being a great way to pass time. I thank Siddharth,
Marty and Sachin sir for their guidance and making me the guitarist I am.
-
Manas Trivedi
 |
| My guitar |
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