bethofalltrades

Katrina is magic. She loaned me her acoustic guitar and now my fingers hurt from the strings.

The guitar and I already have a complicated relationship. You see, I am not used to doing things I'm not good at. Generally those are the things I stop doing in favor of things I am good at.

Yes, no one is instantly good at everything. But generally there are things that one shows aptitude at and things that one does not, and music has always been in my "not" category, which explains why I quit the keyboard, flute, violin and choir. (I also quit ballet, tap, rollerskating, iceskating, softball, dinosaur club, key club, glee club, national honor society, quiz team, math team, physics, calculus, and my last three jobs.)

But... I like music. I like singing and I like the ukulele and I think I like the guitar too.

I am not a musician. I will never be a musician. But I don't have to be a musician to play the guitar. I can just be... a person who plays the guitar as well or as badly as she does, because it makes her happy. Not to be the best at it, not to be admired for being great at it, not to make money at it, not to entertain people at parties. Just to do it, because it feels good.

fishmakestwo reminded me of The Freshmen by The Verve Pipe tonight. I was a freshman in high school when that song came out and I really liked it. I bought the album on CD through one of those music club things. Tonight I found an acapella version on YouTube.

Jesus.

I love that he's so awkward. The man is a professional musician, a famous one at that, and he looks... uncomfortable. And I love it, because it feels real.

I recently told weezerchild703 about being 12 years old and seeing The Cranberries play on SNL and how it changed my life. I spent some time looking for video of that performance (even though I watched that tape so many times I can still see it in my head) and I've had no luck.

Love,
Beth