I recall the enthusiasm I had months ago when I decided to buy my own semi-acoustic guitar. Few people ever get to pursue their dream as a guitarist at some point in their lives, and I have always wanted to learn how to play. I was able to locate a beginner's online course known as the spicy guitar academy. All thanks to one of my good friends here on Hive who is also a guitarist. I was introduced to the guitar and got to get the basic knowledge of some of the things I needed to know.
The first chords I learned were the simple C, F and G. I learned different melody lines, in fact I had to keep a separate book for that purpose where I jotted down all my lessons. After learning and following the course online for about a month and a few weeks, I decided to learn physically. I felt like I needed a physical tutor and training so I would stay motivated and keep improving.
Trust me, the physical training was very helpful as more things were simplified for me. In fact I could do different fingering exercises. As I practiced even more with a metronome, I got better to the extent that I didn't even need to look at the strings all the time before playing. The guitar lessons were ones I always looked forward to.
But, I soon started facing some challenges. The first challenge was the financial cost from my house to where I did the training. I was able to shoulder the first payment for the lesson but could not renew, and I stopped going for the lesson before my subscription ended. I still had about two classes but I just couldn't continue because of the financial strain....But it wasn't just that....
I continued the guitar lessons and progressed to chords like E minor, E MAJOR, A, B and D and G. It got really difficult. Playing and learning was fun until it got to the stage where I needed to hold up to 4 strings at a time while also ensuring that the sounds produced weren't muted. The chord changes were fast and my finger vessels could not follow up the pace. Not only did my fingers ache from pressing on the strings. I attempted to play some other simple melodies but they sounded rather uninteresting.
When I stopped, I thought to myself that I would like to continue learning but I felt like I was done at the time. Perhaps I had been too hasty and that made me realize that one cannot just master an instrument in a week, or even just a few weeks. If it becomes boring, I will leave it for some time and return to it when I am interested again. I do not want to develop a mentality where playing the guitar is just an obligation that I have to do only because it needs to be done.
It has been in my guitar bag and hung on the wall for weeks or months now. It won't remain there anymore because I think I am ready to continue my lessons with it. My church is about to start a 6-month intensive training for people interested in learning any instrument. The good thing is that my church isn't so far from my house, so hopefully, it would reduce the financial challenges of the learning process. Thank training starts from the first week of August and I am excited.
The church has offered to cater for all the financial requirements and I am happy about that....All I need to focus on now is overcoming the fear or difficulty in holding strings at once and playing chords beautifully.
So because the guitar is that instrument I play, even though I am not a pro yet, I decided to do my birthday photoshoot with it....Yeah you guessed right, today is my birthday.🎊😀
All images are mine