Third Time's the Charm...

Around my 14th birthday, or was it Christmas? I got a guitar for my Dad as a gift. It was a Yamaha 6 String and I learned a few chords and played it for a few months before setting it aside to grow my fingernails long. Yup, I was That Girl, all about the makeup and nails and hair and cloths. At some point it got traded in for something or another, I don't even remember what happened to it, to be honest. All I know is that I was not ready to take up the instrument. Both my brother and sister were playing at this time, and they both continue to this day.

Fast forward to my 20's when I was sharing an apartment with my guitar playing sister. We discovered Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions and the concept of a Music Circle. I was enchanted and in love with the whole scene. I love music circles! So I decided to get myself a 12 String Guitar because I had always loved the sound. I loved that 12 string, I played it all the time. But after a year of daily practice, I could only kind of play a couple of songs. Over time I picked up less and less, and I ended up trading it in for a used flute.

My 50th birthday is coming up in a little over 6 months, and I looked at my husband and said that I think I might take up the guitar. He's gotten used to my growing instrument collection since I first took up the Autoharp in 2009. Soon after this proclamation a friend posted she was giving away a guitar to a good home. It's a classical no-name...there is no name anywhere on it. She bought it for her son off the internet, and I'm working with it to learn the guitar. It's a place to start, and I love how the universe provided me a way to learn guitar without having shell out money for one before I knew if I'd keep playing or not. So as I start over from scatch on the guitar, I am looking around for my 50th birthday present. My sister plays a Martin, but I know all that matters is how it sounds and feels in my arms. Here's a little food for thought:

Good Times Big & Small

Well, last night was my third annual Autumn Music Circle & Party. It was also my debut playing my lovely mountain dulcimer. The party was well attended, and the weather was fine, but very windy. So we did not have the bonfire going, too many leaf piles that could catch fire. Better safe than sorry! Lots of friends show up, with a small bunch arriving almost an hour early.

The party itself went very well, with groups talking in the kitchen, and the spare room that acts as my office/music room. But the music itself happened in the living room. In the past, we've filled all the chairs with musicians, up to about a dozen or so. This year we had less than half that. Three guitars, one stav, and myself on the dulcimer. Boy did my little dulcimer sound quiet compared to those guitars! And I was strumming as loudly as I could without making it go all buzzy. I played from my music book because I felt like I needed the crutch. I was very nervous on my first song, which didn't go very well. It was "Diamonds and Rust" and I've only been playing it on the dulcimer for a couple of weeks. I'm learning bar chords and it's still a little awkward and difficult to leap from the 1st fret down to the 6th without missing a beat.

I managed a fair rendition of "Wild Mountain Thyme" toward the end of the night. When one of the guitarists left there was a break in the music and we wandered around and chatted. We did a few more tunes after that. The party went on after the musicians left, and I ended up kicking everyone out at about ten minutes to two in the morning. So there were definitely some good times at the party. The music circle never really got to a good jam level, but it had it's moments. I was quite relaxed by then end of the night, very comfortable sitting there with my dulcimer amid the guitars.

My next lesson with Karen is a week from Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to making progress with my lovely instrument. I really want to learn it well enough that I can jump in and jam with others, and maybe get together more often with my musician friends just to hang out and play. In the meantime I will keep watching for when the next Dulcimer Day in Duluth is. I hope they're going to do it again, it would be great to meet some more dulcimer players in this sea of guitarists here in Minnesota.