My Encomium to 'The Six String'
The guitar, among all the musical instruments, is most associated with love and death. The fact is that these two strong forces of emotion or to say the senses of love and death have been ubiquitous . And this six-string instrument has been truly one of the best means to express one's deep emotions with a magical touch. That is the touch of music and its abitlity to revive a person's vigor.
As i sincerely bow my head to this instrument, the experiences i've had and enjoyed while learning to play it is too rich possibly too hard to explain. Recalling those early days when i believed that i had no sense or instinct towards music, somehow i felt that this was the only instrument which could make me enter the beautiful 'world of music'. I believe that this instrument is designed and tuned to give the player a wealth of possibilities and approaches to not only enjoying but also making music. As an ameteur (Which i humbly accept) the pleasure i derive when i play a particular piece very close to the original composition, is too immense actually fantastic. Its the pride that you can enjoy as a player. The pride that you can reproduce music with your own hands. Its the joy of seeing your fingers move so easily over the fretboard(fingerboard).
The beauty of the instrument is hard to explain in a lay man's language. The major advantage the guitar as an instrument enjoys over the other instruments, is its design. You can play the same chord or note in different positions with a slight variance in its pitch. The guitar facilitates this with the easy concept of movable chords. Something keyboard players can only dream about. The first set of movable chords we learn as beginners are the Bar-chords. And this 'move' ability applies to any chord position. So once you learn one inversion of a particular chord, you can apply it to any other chord as you move along the fretboard. Actually many times you tend to discover a position as you keep on playing and practicing. This way you tend to increase your musical vocabulary. And it comes to great help when you improvise. Again improvising is the key to enjoy and share music and its beauty . Especially when you love the sound of the 'six string'
These things i must confess are truly enjoyable. Its fun and probably you can share it only with another musician or perhaps a true music lover. As my passion to the instrument grew stronger, i wanted to see the professionals play and by observation pick up better styles and tricks to play. This urge grew and I started collecting live concert videos. Perhaps I must have seen each video a million times before i even tried to hunt for the music notes or even tried my hand at it. There was a change of attitude I experienced. Initially I was awstruck by the way the artist would close his eyes and play. Seeing his fingers fly on the board was too inspiring. The feeling was great. Then when you actually pick up the guitar you realise you need to practice a lot many times than you think you have. This feeling seeds frustration, the feeling that you can not play like them or become a virtuso guitarist (like Knopfler, Clapton or Jason Becker). As you mature as a guitarist, attitude becomes more positive and you will realise the level of perseverence and dedication that is needed.Its only then, that you just start to blindly respect the 'the six-string and its master'
The guitar, among all the musical instruments, is most associated with love and death. The fact is that these two strong forces of emotion or to say the senses of love and death have been ubiquitous . And this six-string instrument has been truly one of the best means to express one's deep emotions with a magical touch. That is the touch of music and its abitlity to revive a person's vigor.
As i sincerely bow my head to this instrument, the experiences i've had and enjoyed while learning to play it is too rich possibly too hard to explain. Recalling those early days when i believed that i had no sense or instinct towards music, somehow i felt that this was the only instrument which could make me enter the beautiful 'world of music'. I believe that this instrument is designed and tuned to give the player a wealth of possibilities and approaches to not only enjoying but also making music. As an ameteur (Which i humbly accept) the pleasure i derive when i play a particular piece very close to the original composition, is too immense actually fantastic. Its the pride that you can enjoy as a player. The pride that you can reproduce music with your own hands. Its the joy of seeing your fingers move so easily over the fretboard(fingerboard).
The beauty of the instrument is hard to explain in a lay man's language. The major advantage the guitar as an instrument enjoys over the other instruments, is its design. You can play the same chord or note in different positions with a slight variance in its pitch. The guitar facilitates this with the easy concept of movable chords. Something keyboard players can only dream about. The first set of movable chords we learn as beginners are the Bar-chords. And this 'move' ability applies to any chord position. So once you learn one inversion of a particular chord, you can apply it to any other chord as you move along the fretboard. Actually many times you tend to discover a position as you keep on playing and practicing. This way you tend to increase your musical vocabulary. And it comes to great help when you improvise. Again improvising is the key to enjoy and share music and its beauty . Especially when you love the sound of the 'six string'
These things i must confess are truly enjoyable. Its fun and probably you can share it only with another musician or perhaps a true music lover. As my passion to the instrument grew stronger, i wanted to see the professionals play and by observation pick up better styles and tricks to play. This urge grew and I started collecting live concert videos. Perhaps I must have seen each video a million times before i even tried to hunt for the music notes or even tried my hand at it. There was a change of attitude I experienced. Initially I was awstruck by the way the artist would close his eyes and play. Seeing his fingers fly on the board was too inspiring. The feeling was great. Then when you actually pick up the guitar you realise you need to practice a lot many times than you think you have. This feeling seeds frustration, the feeling that you can not play like them or become a virtuso guitarist (like Knopfler, Clapton or Jason Becker). As you mature as a guitarist, attitude becomes more positive and you will realise the level of perseverence and dedication that is needed.Its only then, that you just start to blindly respect the 'the six-string and its master'
