TOPIC: Musical Background

My parents were not musical. In fact, my mom still talks about her "tin ear" for music. But they wanted me to be musical so they enrolled me in clarinet lessons when I was about 9. My dad picked the clarinet because he likes Benny Goodman. I was actually in the school "band" for awhile. It wasn't so much a band as it was 12 kids playing something that sounded like music every once in a while. I stayed in the band for a while because I liked one of the girls in the string section. I guess it wasn't a complete loss because she became my first girlfriend, but I really didn't learn much about music that stuck with me and quit pretty soon after. My parents kept trying, so they bought me a guitar when I turned 14, but they couldn't afford lessons, so I messed around and learned a couple of chords. I used the guitar mostly for posing, though, standing in front of a mirror wearing various hats and sunglasses trying my best to look like a rock star. It was an acoustic guitar though, so it wasn't quite the right look for rock and roll. Fast forward about ten years and I took up the guitar again, mainly because of my friend William, who was a pretty talented guitarist and made me sit down and "jam" with him. I got interested again and started taking lessons at a local music shop. I got good with a few chords and gave an impromptu concert to my parents and friends playing a couple of Bob Dylan tunes. It was fun, but I lost track of William and got involved with other things and dropped the music again. After another 15 years away, I took Dave's class last year and have stayed with it since then. I have learned more in this short time than in all the other music classes I have ever taken. The most important thing I have learned is that playing music is pretty cool.

There's always a "right time" for everything.....this is your time for music!

Great story, Lawrence. My parents wanted me to learn to play the accordion, like my older cousin, Skippy. An ethnic thing. My older brother got to play the drums. Boy, am I glad that I grew up in a time before big hair and spandex, when lots of “Rock Stars” played acoustic guitar.