Today, I wanted to ask a question and get some community interaction. When I woke up today, I was thinking about a guitar part that I’m working on for a new song. Not specific notes, but a vibe or an inspirational direction. I’m sure a few of you do this as well, but it led me to think about why certain people continue to play their instrument, while others quit.
When I was in my 20s, it seemed like all of my friends played guitar. Some just like to noodle around. Others were in bands. Others looking for creative outlets. As the years go by and life begins to take hold of people, I started noticing the slow death of musicians in my circle of friends. A few years ago, I would ask – “you still playing?” and would often get the “no man, who has time to play any more?”. I would agree politely, but internally, I was always confused. ‘Time’ to play guitar was lost?
For me, the casual physical act of playing guitar, never took up time. I mean I could ask the same person if they had time to watch TV. I always have a guitar or two in arms reach and when I was in between bands I would constantly work on riffs, songs, lessons, etc. I would agree that being in a band is time intensive and definitely involves sacrifice and commitment, but if I wasn’t in a band, I would still ‘have time’ to play guitar at some point of the day.
Can you relate with what I’m saying? What keeps you playing? What inspires you to not hang up the guitar.. permanently?
