The Joy of Music
We at Guitar Noise want to remind people of why we run this site and, much more importantly, why we play music in the first place.
From Drew
I don’t think I can write the words that describe the joy of music. I’ve been playing bass for six months and I play bass for myself. No one else says “practice” or “you should play this instrument.” Too many people play instruments for the wrong reasons.
Anyway, I play bass in our youth band at my church. I started playing on Sundays and moved up to Wednesday nights, which was a lot more fun. There was a drummer and more songs to play. I love to just go there and play in the band. As I am still a beginner bassist, I have been reading up on music theory and scales and how it all comes together for practical playing. I find the more I learn about music and theory the more I enjoy playing. Sometimes when I play it seems boring and monotonous and I have to challenge myself to go beyond just the roots even if its simple stuff. The leader of the band told us all, “We need to continually challenge ourselves for this is how we learn and develop as better musicians.”
Today I played bass in our youth worship band and then we went our ways. After worship on Sundays we go to different Sunday school classes. After my class was over I went back to where we played to pack up my stuff and our lead guitarist/lead vocalist asked me if I wanted to jam out because he sure did. I said, “Sure let’s do it.” Ironically, the drummer walks in and naturally he want in to. So we come up with some sort of riff for me to work with which was a really cool blues riff and we started jamming. Wow was it fun, and I don’t think I could express the high, the rush we all felt. We all felt good.
Well, that’s about all I have to say. For those of you who are learning, stick with it and you won’t regret it. Music is one of greatest gifts God gave us. You can do, it will all be okay. Learn your scales and theory and keep at it. God is good and we can’t thank him enough for His gift of music.
From Jess
Hi, my name is Jess, and I LOVE your site. I picked up a guitar about two years ago, and although I got a lot of help from my dad and brother, I still had a lot to learn. I couldn’t afford lessons, so I almost passed out when I found Guitar Noise!
Anyway, it being the holidays, I thought you might enjoy a touching story. My dad is the pastor of our small, close-knit church. He’s played the guitar since he was a teenager (that’s a lot of years!). He had an acoustic Seagull for quite some time, and of course, as a guitarist, he became attached. Unfortunately a few months ago, someone stole it. He had an electric to “help him through the pain”, but still, his good old friend was gone. It was rather sad…
Well, this Sunday before Christmas, my dad’s brother, (also the church worship leader; we have a VERY musical family!) announced that the congregation had secretly been taking up a collection to help buy a new guitar. They came up with a very generous sum, and presented my dad with his beautiful new acoustic. After regaining his voice (he was quite choked up) my dad said that he’d actually been looking and drooling over that same guitar in the store. These generous, caring people brought back the love and spirit of giving at Christmas, and gave my dad back his music. I have no doubt that when he plays his new guitar, it will sound better because of the love behind it.
Thank you for reading, and for contributing to such an awesome site.
I’d like to take this time to thank everyone who has written to me this past year. Guitar Noise is a great place because of each of our readers. It is all of you who make this a special place to visit and to write for.
My best wishes for a wondrous New Year.
Peace
