Meet the team - The Acoustic Guitar

I introduced you to my piano in my previous blog. I told you what the piano meant to me, how I'd always wanted one but never got one. I can already hear the heartache in everyone's thoughts: Yes, yes, deprived child who didn't get a grand piano and a Palamino pony like she wanted.

Cort acoustic guitar purchased 2001

What I got instead was an acoustic guitar for Christmas one year. I was 10 or 11. I can't exactly remember how old I was, but it was much more preferable to the air guitar I'd been playing with for years. Thanks mum and dad. Sadly, the air guitar sounded better. Turns out you need to know which strings to press and where to make the guitar sounds.

My dad knew someone who played acoustic guitar, and this man kindly agreed to loan me some sheet music. I still remember the first songs I practiced to: Olivia Newton John's "Banks of the Ohio" and Crystal Gayles "Don't it make my Brown Eyes Blue". I loved playing "Banks of the Ohio". It had easy chords. "Brown Eyes" has an F chord which I've never truly mastered to this day!

Anyway, it was explained that the tablature showed where my fingers were meant to go on each string. This man also kindly agreed to listen to me play and give me a bit of a lesson. He wasn't a teacher, just someone my dad knew. I was dropped off at his house to return the sheet music, and that is where I learned about frets. Yes, frets! I had been playing with my fingers on the correct strings, but not in the correct placement on the guitar.

I bought more and more sheet music to play along to songs. But I never learned finger picking so after a few years, playing chords grew a little boring. Sorry to all you chord playing guitarists. Also, I outgrew that acoustic guitar. Literally. I was a kid when I got my first guitar, and I literally outgrew it. Plus, I lived with three brothers so it might have gotten broken, I can't really remember. Plus, boys, exams, pubescence... I kinda put guitar and music out of my mind for a little while. But not for long.

I had always sung in the school choirs and bands, so I was still singing, just not playing an instrument. That was until I got my first job, and I bought a keyboard so I could learn to play the piano. A few years later, I bought my first bass guitar. Way more fun. Bass guitarists rock. Don't let anyone tell us differently.

I still have an acoustic guitar. It's great for times when I want that sweet emotion in my music. I have a great appreciation for acoustic guitar since I started recording my own songs. It adds a sparkle, it adds life, and it adds emotion. And it annoys the neighbors less than when I get out my electric guitar.

Thanks for learning about the team behind my music.