learning to play the guitar.

i decided a little while ago i'd like to learn to play the guitar.  santa brought me a guitar for christmas, and i signed up for music 1080.

guitar proved to be easier to play than the piano (at least it has so far...)

and i was getting the hang of it.

one day in class, my teacher told us what our midterm would be.  we would each choose a song that uses only the four chords we've learned (g, c, d, and e minor.)  they're all fairly simple chords, and 8 billion songs use them.  singing along was encouraged but not required.  easy enough.

i chose my song, i worked out a strumming pattern, and i practiced.  i sang along, because without it the song is extremely repetitive.  i had a little trouble singing along to the strumming pattern i had picked during the chorus, but i didn't worry too much.

on the day of the midterm, i sat down in front of the class to play.  i was shaking a little bit, but just a little bit, because i was only a little bit nervous.  i had practiced.  it would be fine.

i made it through the first verse fine, but as i came to the first chorus i stumbled over the lyrics, getting distracted from my strumming, and before i knew it, i was using a strumming pattern that was completely wrong and didn't fit at all.  i got back on track during the second verse, but upon realizing that there was still another chorus left in the song, i got even more nervous and started to shake so much it made it hard to play.  by the end of the song, i was even singing notes that were completely wrong.  i was incredibly thankful at that moment that no one really knew the song, so they wouldn't know just how badly i'd messed it up.

yes, i played badly.

but i played.

i didn't stop singing halfway through when i realized how downhill it had gone.  i finished what i started.

i've only been playing for 2 months.  i am not going to be perfect at this yet.  and while my confidence was shattered for a moment, it isn't anymore.

the beginning is always going to be hardest.

don't give up.