I sometimes roll out the guitar, although these days it’s mostly to keep Max occupied. Â It is kind of crazy how long I’ve been noodling around and how little I’ve learned. Â All it would have taken was some concentration, maybe some structure, and I may have gotten a bit better. Â Granted that when I was playing routinely and playing with people, I picked up a lot from the talented folks around me, but I don’t think I ever really took the time to build on it, or I let it fall away as I directed my life away from creating music.
Looking back, I think I spent a lot of time obscuring my lack of talent by using an effects pedals (although not nearly as many as most people, I do have some sense of pride in squeezing as much as I could out of my crappy delay). Â We were able to get some pretty sweet sounds going, but I think I should have had some more fundamentals. Â Back in the day we’d argue till morning about the value of traditional musical education versus “pure” expression of creativity and I still believe that each has its place, however in retrospect a lot of those types of music look more to me like youthful exuberance and naivete both on behalf of the listener and the performer. Â Again, they have their place too. Â The bottom line is when I pick up an acoustic guitar I really wish I could do more with it. Â Maybe when I get some time I can do something about it, but probably not.