Harmony

.....I started playing guitar when I was 12 years old. My next door neighbor, who was a couple of years younger, was taking lessons at the original Robbie's Music Store, in Hackensack, every Saturday morning, and I couldn't wait for him to come home. We would sit in his room until lunchtime, going over all of the things he had learned, and writing out chords that I would later practice on my own for what seemed like an eternity before I could play them well enough to work on my favorite songs.

   In those days, I had an old Stella guitar that my parents had reluctantly bought for me. Elvis had just become an overnight sensation, and I have the feeling they were not too anxious to have me emulate him.

   I didn't know it at the time, but I was about to start a "relationship" with the guitar that was not much different than other relationships in my life. Each guitar has its own personality, and no two are exactly alike. The give and take between us, especially when I sing, is as different as it is between two people, and some guitars, like people, are easy to get along with, while others are a little more difficult. The hardest part is trying to find the right mix. I have some guitars that pull me into the music so quickly that it is hard not to sing along, and the harmony can build and become so encompassing that it sounds as if there are other voices blending in with my own. I know it is only the strings, but there are times when a good guitar can sound like a chorus in the background, and I find myself not just singing along and playing an instrument, but taking part in something much bigger and more magical than I could ever have created on my own. It is not just the instrument, though. I have to be willing to listen, and to bring something to the relationship that makes it work, but when the harmony is there, like all good relationships, it brings out the best in both of us.

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Copyright 2009, Skip Van Lenten

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e-mail: skipvanlenten@gmail.com