Guitar Gear

With the lockdown, it has been such a great time to play guitar. But even before the lockdown, I’d normally play at least a half-hour a day. However, over the last several days, I’ve been putting in some serious time on my guitars, especially my Gibson J-45 Avant Garde acoustic.

One of the things I’ve been doing is recording videos to share on Facebook. Yesterday, I recorded a video with my daughters where we sang a song I wrote for church. This past Sunday, I recorded an old church song since I wasn’t able to play at Mass.

At the beginning of the lockdown, I purchased Carol Kaye’s Jazz Guitar book and CD. This ain’t no step-by-step manual. She just dives right in, assuming you already know what she’s talking about. Thank goodness I already knew my chords and note numbers!

The point to all this is that ever the optimist, playing my guitar and finding things to play has had an enormous positive impact on me during this lockdown.

Think about it: You go on social media and it’s nothing but talk from the shelter-in-place crusaders. It’s ads from news sources talking about the death toll (though they avoid discussions of comorbidities and percentages). It has been fear and panic. Then there are the anti- and pro-Trump factions at each other’s throats.

I certainly have my own views of this situation – and sorry, this isn’t the platform to share them – but in light of all of this, I’d rather play my guitars. Yeah, I share a lot of the stuff I produce, and frankly, it’s not meant to be a counterpoint to the Covid-19 hustle and bustle. My thought is just to do what I do, and let it loose. I couldn’t care less whether people watch it or comment on it.

For me at least, even though I’m working from home, it’s a perfect time to let my creative juices flow.