guitar hero

Much to my delight, my daughter has taken to enjoying listening to me play guitar. I have played guitar since I was a freshman in high school. I probably peaked as a player during college, when many late night hours were spent hammering away trying to perfect the strumming style of Stevie Ray Vaughan or to master the delicate soloing of Kenny Wayne Shepherd. After I got married though, my time investing in the guitar waned. I had a new target for creativity, my beloved. From that point it seemed like I argued more about guitar and it's superiority over all instruments (especially violin) than actually practicing. My technique eroded, my callouses fell off, and my guitars got stuck in the closet.

Fast forward a few years, and I thought, why not see if my little one likes it? She loves music, especially the kind that mommy doesn't like (i.e. Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, etc). So I pull out my guitar, and I start to play. She climbs up into a chair, folds her hands in her lap, and listens. For as long as I play, she sits there and listens. Then, she'll clap, she'll dance, she will hum along. Sometimes she wants to pluck the strings, so I fret the chords and let her strum, and it sounds wonderful. When she hits a note right, and it rings out and sustains, she knows that it sounds right and she smiles. The right note, the right resonation, the right vibrato - she knows what it is supposed to sound like.

Now, if I could just figure out why my guitar is always out of tune when I pick it up...