I wanted to learn to play the guitar.<\/p>\n
It seemed so cool! Guitars had cases, and they had a strap so you could play it standing up. You could move around, dance while playing.<\/p>\n
I could picture myself, with a cool guitar strap and a pair of killer boots standing in front of a mic stand, shredding the guitar while hitting the high notes.<\/p>\n
Thing was, I had already learned to play the piano. The piano had been a joy to learn, with the keys laid out like a grid and the keys as clear as a math equation. I’d learned the way the scales and chords hung together, and made music happen.<\/p>\n
It was so intoxicating to understand music theory, I thought I wanted to step up from the bench, come out from behind the dominated wall of the upright piano and be a guitar player!<\/p>\n
When I played on Sunday, and the bass and guitar players sat in their chairs behind me, I saw how they were so mobile I wanted to be like them.<\/p>\n
I asked Bill the bass player what it was like to play the guitar.<\/p>\n
He said “If I were you, I’d stick with the piano. You could use your time to improve your playing on the instrument you already know, rather than trying to learn a new instrument.”<\/p>\n
Bill was so cool.<\/p>\n
But the desire for novelty doesn’t go away that easily.<\/p>\n
The new and unexplored seems to have delights far superior to the known and well-trodden path.<\/p>\n
Even now I think, maybe I should write something different. Observational essays are something I’ve done for a long time.<\/p>\n
I think of launching into a new vector that will be full of glory.<\/p>\n
But a lot of the time, it’s only that I don’t want to buckle down and get better at the task at hand.<\/p>\n
Excellence has to be earned. And most of the time I am better at the thing I’ve already learned, as contemptuously familiar as it is.<\/p>\n
So, I buckle down and craft my talent.<\/p>\n
I’ll do the new thing later, when it’s not an excuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wanted to learn to play the guitar. It seemed so cool! Guitars had cases, and they had a strap so you could play it standing up. You could move around, dance while playing. I could picture myself, with a … Continue reading