I’ve been teaching myself guitar for a couple of years, but either I’m not a very good teacher or I’m not a very good student, because I’ve learned remarkably little in two years. That’s why I decided to take Eve Goldberg’s week-long folk guitar course at Haliburton.
I’m glad I did, because I learned more in one week than I had in two years.
There were eleven of us in the class, ranging from rank beginners to one or two fairly advanced guitar players. In order to teach people of such varying levels, Eve divided us into two groups. I was in the least advanced but most fun group, which was made up of some smart, interesting and funny people including a naturopath from Bracebridge, a Children’s Aid worker from Cobourg, and a teenager from Alberta. We had a blast, mostly playing but sometimes just sitting around talking and laughing. It was one of those groups that somehow gels together well and finds its own rhythm. I like when that happens.
Eve said one of my bigger challenges is timing, which is true but I also have issues around memory. I could work away at something and practice it over and over again until it finally sunk in, and the next day it would be gone again. Sometimes it would be gone after just five minutes away from it. Fortunately, it sunk in a little faster each time I returned to it. And Eve taught us some visualization tricks that made it easier to recall the songs and the patterns within them. Sometimes you know more than you think you know, but you can’t quite access it. Visualization helps with that.
I found myself quite tired by the end of each school day, and in fact I dozed off during movie time each day (we watched a series of American Roots documentaries). The lights would go off and I’d immediately fall into a narcoleptic sleep in my uncomfortable little wooden elementary school chair. Sometimes I would wake up just as I was about to fall out of my chair. Sometimes the jolt would wake me up sufficiently that I would get to watch the second half of the movie.
You know what’s weird? That course ended five days ago, and every time I wake up during the night or in the morning, I’m dreaming I’m playing the song Blue Eyes, which we learned in the course. I wake up boom chucking. I’m strumming and Eve is giving me the signal to slow down. It’s been the backdrop for all my dreams for five days now.
Here’s our guitar class right before our concert. That’s me in the middle of the second row. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) We played Blue Eyes. I made a lot of mistakes, but it was okay.
Eve said something interesting which I’ve been mulling over ever since. She said she has a lot of respect for adults who are learning to play the guitar, because they are purposefully putting themselves in a position where they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s true. We don’t have to do that. At this point in our lives, it would be easy to just stick to our areas of competency and never put ourselves in situations in which we feel awkward or incompetent. Some people never try anything new because it makes them feel uncomfortable. I think those of us who keep trying to learn new things and don’t feel we need to be good at everything we do are better off. It keeps our brains limber.
Honestly, I’ll never be much of a musician or artist. But I’m happy just being able to play with music and art supplies. I’m happy to be learning new things. I’m happy to have so much room for improvement. I’m happy that the law of diminishing returns won’t kick in for a long time yet.
If your title is correct, then you could join me in a Zoomba class! I really suck at that. (“What did she say? Left foot? Forward? Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to step on you!”) But seriously, you are correct in your conclusions. Peter has really discovered cooking this time, now that he has a new and improved BBQ. And it’s not just BBQ stuff but he is watching the Food Network and learning all sorts of stuff, including bad language from Gordon Ramsay. Except for all the new gadgets he keeps adding to the world’s smallest kitchen, I am encouraging him in this and he really seems to enjoy it, even down to the food prep and taking a cooked chicken apart. Maybe I should take up knitting?
I gave up playing the piano partly because I felt I already used my hands in repetitive actions too much, being a computer programmer and a knitter, and partly because I was no good at it (and I married into a family of musicians and someone has to be the audience). But maybe I should try again and think of it as brain exercise. Thanks for the inspiration, Zoom!
That sounds like it was a lot of fun. There’s nothing better than learning something you want to learn and having fun at the same time. Good for you!
Yes, the older we get, the more important it is to try new things, especially things that challenge the other side of our brain. I’m really left brained, but when I draw, I can feel the right side of my head tingle.
I can pick out a tune, but then I can’t remember what it is I just did. My son can pick out a tune, remember it, and embellish it. He’s in a band and NONE of the members ever write down their music. They play all their songs by memory, and are constantly making up new ones. It amazes me. I’m sure I have a hidden talent like that, but I haven’t found it yet
I had a similar experience with TaeKwonDo – I started studying it at the age of 46, after a lifetime of being a non-athlete (you know, that schooldays trauma of always being the last one picked for teams, etc)
I struggled along over the years and eventually got my black belt, and started teaching. It was interesting to me that kids caught on to things immediately – I think because they were used to learning something new all the time and didn’t see it as taking a risk – while adults spent much more time floundering and becoming frustrated. I think it’s harder when you walk into something feeling like a competent human, then are reduced to feeling like a total klutz. (“Wait, which left foot?!?”)
And, oh, the joy of finally Getting It! So worth the struggle. Even if your Spinning Hook Kick is nothing like Bruce Lee’s…
I loved reading this for two reasons – one, I learned to play guitar as an adult (and I’m still learning) and I need all the encouragement I can get; two, today in yoga class it took til the end of class for me to click into the fact that I was doing everything opposite to everyone else. But that’s okay!
Ooohhhhh….nooooooo….now I feel obligated to go do something I suck at. There’s so much to choose from. Problem is, I mostly hate everything I suck at. How do I overcome that?
Aww, I was gonna take Eve’s class, I wanted to be there, and I missed it cuz I didn’t have enough money! Fleming College told me no terms, ya gotta pay all upfront. They didn’t have time to chase down 3,400 students for money, they said. But it’s only me–one student, I said. Too bad I have to eat and feed my cat. Two years of fumbling on my guitar and I don’t know how to play even one song yet. I really needed this course. Man, am I ever royally disappointed. I don’t know if I’ll get over it. I probably won’t last til next year.
(Um, I should have written “Too bad I have to eat. And feed my cat.” Right?)
(Okay. Perhaps I could have written, “I have to eat. And so does my cat.” Or, “Me and my cat have to eat…to stay alive.” After all, Fleming College has less to do with higher learning and more to do with economics. It’s just a business. Right? When it comes down to it, everything’s just a business.)
(No worries. Right? I’m still over a hundred pounds, even if six of it’s hair. After all, who can afford haircuts. And I’ve never been good at doing it myself. Might as well just let it grow. Speaking of hair, my cat is a red persian barn cat. You know, a long haired cat that some old horse farmer left with me. And if you look closely, you’ll see my cat’s basically just a long-haired s-k-e-l-e-t-o-n. You can feel it when you pat him. It seems he just doesn’t have the get up and go to feed himself, to catch mice and chipmunks and birds like he used to. He’s lost his edge. Like me.)
Okay Tom Sawyer, you’ve nudged me out of my quite contemplation of blog comments into a conversation. 😉
I’m so pleased to know things aren’t bad enough yet that you’ve been forced to eat your skeletal cat.
And while it’s too late for this year, Fleming College offers bursaries to students for whom the tuition would be a burden! You should apply! Explain about the cat and the six pounds of hair and the lost edge and the two years of fumbling. If I were in charge of bursaries, I’d give you one.
Oops! I hadn’t intended to nudge anyone. But I did. And her name is…ZOOM!
Okay, forget my cat; he ate a frog today and then some grass and then lay down for a long, lazy rest in the rain. As for bursaries, I know any gal named ZOOM would give me one, but these businesses called colleges don’t have free money for guitars. No they don’t; I checked. Besides, I didn’t need a bursary, and I wasn’t asking for one. I just wanted them to be human beings and cut me some slack till I had some more money. But they NO could do cuz they’re running a business. They’re caught in the grind. Right here in cottage country. Hard to believe but believe me, it’s true.
Ahem. Enough of all that.
Okay. I know this is gonna sound kinda creepy but the creepiness is entirely unintentional. Get this: I keep looking at the photo of the class. Yeah, I clicked on it. Yeah, it got bigger. I even saved it and made it MUCH bigger. But try as I might, I cannot see myself anywhere in that photo. Not even part of me. Nothing. Zero. So darn close to Haliburton and yet so far away. I even visited the campus last month and took a detailed tour and asked a million questions. I saw everything. I was stoked. I checked Eve’s website, read everything. I did this, I did that. I phoned Fleming practically every day to check availability. Still space, they kept telling me. Then my bubble burst. Best friend of mine owed me money and only paid half back. I’m still waiting for the other half. Probably I’ll go to the food bank in Minden today. I phoned Monday and she explained how it all worked. I have to fill out some forms, show ID, answer all her questions. She said there’s lots of questions. I’m thinking starvation sounds less painful and certainly less humiliating.
Anyway, that photo you posted is now saved in my “Guitar Heroes” folder with other great guitar photos too numerous to mention. Just looking at it gets me going. It reminds me of what I missed. I could have been there. I missed it. And I miss it. But, on a brighter note, I’m working on a new song. And it sounds so good.
Hi Tom.
Editorial suggestion (regarding your first comment): “I need to feed and eat my cat.” As in, you’re so desparate, you need to eat your cat, but he needs to be fattened up first. Okay, obviously I’m not serious about that! Just thought it would be funny, in a sick kind of way…
And I personally wouldn’t know what to do with a guitar – hand it to someone who can play perhaps. But it’s been my observation with the skills that I do have that there’s never just ONE way to learn something. If you’ve been fumbling for two years and you’re looking for a more structured approach, perhaps there are options that are cheap/free/local? Just a thought!