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I carefully play the chords of a new song I want to learn on the guitar, thinking back to when I first tried. I started with singing. I've been singing, humming, or making some kind of noise ever since I knew how. It started with the Barney theme song, but quickly moved to any song that I heard, whether in church or on TV. My parents always told me I was good, and at the age of seven I got my first solo in a church Christmas pageant. It was just two lines, but I was ecstatic. From there, I only went up. I kept singing, and soon I wanted to learn instruments so I could accompany myself.
Learning a new instrument is always hard. I remember just a two years ago I desperately wanted to learn bass, because one of my friends wanted me to play in their band, and they said it was incredibly easy. It wasn't easy, though. I had to suffer through many blistered fingers and rather laborious practice, but I finally learned and today I am in that band. My determination is what kept me going.
After bass, I desperately wanted to play acoustic guitar. Now, I had had previous experience with that. When I was eight years old I insisted that I learn to play guitar. After much begging, I got my wish: a little blue guitar and a book that taught all the basics for kids. I was thrilled. I played for two months, then I quit. I told my mom that it made my fingers hurt and all the music was boring, and she reluctantly told me I didn't have to play anymore.
A few years later, I heard a song that I wanted to learn to play on the guitar. In my head it sounded so perfect, me singing and playing. I still had that little blue guitar and a chord chart to learn with. I found some chords for the song online, and then I sat myself down in front of the chord chart and slowly began to play. I got two painfully slow chords into the song, and then one of the strings broke. Later, I took it to my bass teacher (who also plays guitar) and he said he could restring it, no problem. I told him I didn't want to wait to learn to play that song, so he said he could teach me on his guitar. Now, less than a year later, I can play that song and many more on the guitar.
Onto the next venture, piano. Before I had taken up bass, I had taken piano lessons. I hated them with a deep and abiding passion. The songs bored me to no end, and I hated having to read sheet music. But I was determined, just like the previous instruments, and I went over to the keyboard (the piano kind, not the computer kind) and looked through all the functions until I found a chord book. I decided on a song I wanted to play, and slowly I began banging out the chords. It certainly wasn't a pretty sound, but to me, it was better than those infernal piano lessons from years ago. A few weeks later I asked my guitar teacher (who also plays piano) if he could teach me piano. He agreed, and soon I was correcting all my mistakes and learning piano. It was the hardest instrument for me so far, but the thrill of being able to play three different instruments overwhelmed the want to just give up. After months, I learned, and I learned well. He taught me to read sheet music again, and I grew to love it.
Where I am now: taking voice lessons, and loving every minute of it. I sing every moment possible, loud enough to make sure everyone hears me. Maybe some day my music will take me somewhere besides my home. Maybe I'll make it big time, and be the next biggest star. Even if I don't, I'll still be singing and making music. Nothing will ever stop me. Music made me who I am, and I'm never going back the way I used to be.
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