Guitar Noise

Edited By David Hodge

Being the incredibly sentimental person I am, I thought it might be nice to share our readers’ stories about the joy that playing guitar and making music have brought them this past year.

This week, we’re going to start posting these stories. As you’ll see, they run the gamut from being personal to cosmic.

And I don’t mind starting things off.Even though this happened late last year, it pretty much set the tone for 2002. Late last fall, I was madly dashing around at work - “madly” in both senses of the word: close to insane (at least for me) and very angry; I was supposed to already have left to meet some friends and go to a concert.

But work was there to do; deadlines, which had been there for months, were finally realities and minutes away. So I plodded away and waited for the people who were finally doing their jobs, so that I could finish mine and be on my way.

I was just in one of those moods where nothing mattered and all I wanted to do was to be gone. Truthfully, I was beginning to wonder if going to a concert was such a good idea since I was in such an angry state.

While waiting for my coworkers, I went to check my email. And, as has been the case since I started writing for Guitar Noise, I found I had mail to read. But instead of someone asking me how to tune a half step lower or what I thought about a particular make of guitar or even a declaration of “hey, great lesson,” I received a short note from a man in Massachusetts. He was offering his thanks.

He had written his first song - a love song for his wife.

And, he had sung it for her.

I know I can get tedious by writing how I feel about what music can do to people and for people. But when I read his note, everything that I’d been mad about became incredibly petty.

It’s hard for me to explain to people why I put so much time and effort into Guitar Noise. Perhaps it’s because I’m not the best person to explain it. So let me just let some of you do the talking now.

I am writing in response to your request for stories about the joy of playing guitar. I recently picked up the guitar again after years of not playing. I only knew how to play open chords and a few cool songs that I learned and memorized like Dust in the Wind.

I started taking lessons again three months ago and you can’t imagine how my playing has evolved and soared. I owe it all to my teacher. I am very fortunate to have the honor and privilege of working with a well known, amazing musician and a really nice person, Al Pitrelli. The experience has been positive and wonderful. And in just a short time, I am able to play things that I never thought I would be able to play so soon. I am also able to think logically about music and make discoveries on my own while practicing. Al provides an environment that is highly motivating, encouraging, pressure-free and fun.Al rules! Practice is a fulfilling challenge instead of an unwelcome chore.

After having taught me barre chords, scales and some neat tricks, suddenly I’m rocking, playing the blues, soloing and many other amazing things. My face lights up like 20 Christmas trees during that powerful and uplifting moment when I “get” something and am able to play it after struggling with it. The day that I learned bending you would have thought I won the lottery because I was that excited. It’s positively exhilarating! Because of these lessons, my passion for playing the guitar has been renewed.

I am also a member of a place in NYC called “The Studio,” which is a great place to be to learn and grow. It’s a supportive, creative and nurturing environment, where they hold jams on the weekends. I now have the confidence to walk into these jam rooms with some really rad guitar dudes and hold my own thanks to all that Al has taught me. The Studio also helped me find my rock voice, a voice which I never heard come out of me before. I was always timid about singing but now I’m singing my heart out, playing the guitar and having the time of my life! I’d say there is a lot of joy going on there.

By the way, I LOVE your website and newsletters. I find the information you provide very valuable.

I am continuing to enjoy your excellent site. I’ve been a guitarist for twenty years now. It would be impossible for me to overstate the impact music has had on my life. It has enriched my life enormously. I’ve played in a few bands, made albums and traveled. I haven’t achieved major success, but have had real fun.

I’m currently working as a community music tutor, facilitating music workshops for people with learning disabilities. The buzz it gives me seeing them really enjoying music is magic. I believe that music is for everyone. What other art form touches the soul in such a powerful and immediate way?

The “Joy of Guitar” to me, as a middle-aged, working class-guy, is probably not your teenager’s rock ‘n’ roll star dream. To me it is being able to play those wonderful classic songs that I can so fondly remember my uncles playing around the campfires or at the local dances when I was a child. I discovered joy when a note or chord I played first sounded like it was supposed to! When I’m playing my guitar I’m like a little kid again, enjoying the learning and the creation of something I’m doing. A big thanks to all you guys and gals at Guitar Noise for helping me. I’m loving every bit of it.

Here are some of my thoughts concerning the joy of music. I could hardly stop myself once I started to write:

“The Joy of Music”

Music is powerful. I love music. It picks me up when I’m down, it calms me down when I’m stressed, it encourages me and inspires me in my thinking, in my walk with the Lord. It is able to change my mindset. It reminds me of God’s Word, Power, and Promises. Praise God for music! It totally enhances my life.

I am easily influenced by music, always have been. I catch tunes others are whistling. Melodies get stuck in my head regularly (including the music from the ice-cream truck). A billboard ad is enough to trigger a familiar commercial tune from days gone by (i.e. Rice-A-Roni). I carry songs I hear in the morning all day long; subconsciously I pick up tunes throughout the course of the day.

I think it’s important to purposely fill our hearts, minds, and spirits with music that edifies. I think the music in Church is as important as the Sermon. I believe we can choose what our minds dwell on. If my thinking is negative, I can feed those thoughts or redirect them by planting a specific song in my head. My whole mood changes when I listen to or play a favorite piece.

During a holiday season made stressful with work, plans, racing, and responsibilities, a friend sent me a tape that featured the song Shout To The Lord by Darlene Zschech. The whole piece is wonderful, but the melody of the chorus is especially gripping and is as powerful as the words:

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing,
Power and majesty, praise to the King;
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your Name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands,
Forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand;
Nothing compares to the promise I have in you!

This became my “Christmas Carol” of choice that December, and has been a favorite ever since.

My current favorite is a song Richie Furay of Poco sings on his In My Father’s House CD. I am not a morning person, and never have been, but Wake Up My Soul, co-written with Scott Sellen, is a tune I have been singing every day on the way to work. This tune has spiritual significance. By the time I get to work, I feel alive. It starts out like this:

Wake up my soul, wake up early in the day,
Wake up my hands and the instrument I plan,
Wake up my voice, let the world hear me say,
You are worshiped and exalted here today…

Music has an influence on my entire being. It can make me feel happy, sad, agitated, peaceful, loving, motivated, energetic and more. Music plays on my heartstrings and can somehow give expression to and even transform my thoughts. What we listen to can have a positive or negative effect on our lives. I like to choose what I listen to so my mind is set on things above.

In my opinion, music is almost as important as the air we breathe. Without music my life would be in black and white!

Thanks for listening David! I hope you carry a great melody in your heart all day long!