Article by Mike muncey
'Can you help my son he wants to learn the guitar' - was the question I had been asked by a neighbour and whilst thinking about what guitar advice I should give him I walked into the town. It was the weekend and as if by magic I heard the sound of an acoustic guitar being played. The sound of the guitar reverberated around the streets amongst the throngs of shoppers and screaming kids. I dodged the traffic and followed the sound of this guitar until it led me to a strange little fellow outside a boutique. He was busking with an old fender electric acoustic guitar, a little hip hippy with his 'weirdy' beardy face murdering the Bob Dylan classic Mr Tambourine man. I'm by no means an anal person but his acoustic guitar version was rubbish. It was catchy though and passers by were throwing coins at him like buns at an elephant. What struck me most about his guitar playing was this fact: He only knew about 6 basic open guitar chords! I listened a bit longer as he wailed - Leaving on a jet plane by John Denver and when he finished I spoke to him. The guitar was basic and cheap and the smell of sweat wrinkled my nose as I got close. I asked him how long he had been playing guitar and as I suspected he enlightened me with the fact that he had only had his guitar for 3 months having never played before. Now I am no guitar genius but I reckon I can play most things on the guitar by ear after a bit of practice. I can bash out a hundred or so guitar chords and name every note with ease on a guitar fret board. I write half decent songs using a Tascam digital 12 track mostly guitar based and have a few bands and vocalists singing my songs with backing tracks on the local pub and club music scene. I play guitar for a hobby and have no serious thirst for stardom. This beardy fellow had been playing guitar for a couple of months and told me he was making £70 - £100 every Saturday in about 4 hours. (I had a strange overwhelming urge to club him to death with his Fender). Instead I just looked surprised and nodded encouragement. A mixture of disgust and envy crept over me, he was a cheap 10 dollar guitar hooker and I walked away from him with an air of superiority. As I walked he started to play Brown eyed Girl by Van Morrison badly. As he strummed his guitar slowly I retreated to Starbucks where I sat and mused over my mocha. It started to rain heavily outside. I caught a reflection of myself in the glass smiling at the thought of him and his guitar getting soaked in the downpour. (Perhaps I should take him a bar of soap?) It was obvious really, guitar playing is something easily achieved if you stick to the basic principles. The beardy freak was living proof that you can learn the guitar by practicing the basic open chords. The guitar rythum had to be right and the song structure though realistically it is quite easy to learn the guitar when you simplify it.
Manmonkey
About the Author
Nicknamed manmonkey from school has been playing acoustic rhythm guitar for money. Singer/songwriter now too old for fame.http://manmonkey-guitar.blogspot.com