Me Me Monday add-on

I forgot what today was. Oops. SO without further ado, here we go for my first of, umm 101, Me-me Mondays:

10. I play guitar

Yep. I play. Got one at age... 10? Student model classical. I learned to play maybe 3 or 4 chords. Got an electric when I was 12 - this snazzy Degas Telecaster copy made by that fine Spanish company in Japan. Yeah, that's right. Spanish named copy of an American Fender guitar made by some of my distant relatives in the land of the Rising Sun, Japan. It wasn't much of a guitar but it had GREAT action. You guitar players out there know what I mean - and for you others, it has nothing to do with how many chicks a dude guitarist can score with.

I didn't play very regularly since I was always busy trying to hook up with the girlies when I hit high school. It was also very frustrating to be able to play a blazing blues/jazz solo on a trombone and not be able to do something at least half-assed on the guitar. I was in a band in high school - but played trombone and sang - we did beach, blues, jazz, and some other songs that have horn sections (Chicago, Earth Wind * Fire, Tower of Power) - we had a really solid horn section, I must say. Really.

Years later in college I started to play a bit more - particularly when my grandmother and sister passed away. At this point, I had gotten my eldest brother's old Yamaha classical guitar - and it had a really nice tone when I used D'Addario folk nylon strings on it. Wrote the second song I ever kept with that guitar, for the fiancee who would later destroy my world. (Oooh, ominous music). When I transferred to another school to finish my degreee, I took some fingerpicking classes... then I really didn't play much too much of either guitar OR trombone for the next few years. I scored a 1984 model Kramer Baretta for cheap, but didn't really play it much either. It wasn't until I met one of my very best and closest friends, Lisa, that this changed. She basically helped me reboot my creative self and bring it back online and she inspired me to play out. I played my very first open mic because of her support. It was then I got the Martin as a gift from her - talk about an incredible gift!

And since then I have been playing a whole lot more. I look back on all the years I have had a guitar and can only wonder just how good I could be had I taken more time, if only a half hour each day, and practiced. I would be pretty damned good now. Ahh well, what use regrets?

And if I ever get famous, I owe a lot to my buddy and executive assistant extraordinaire, Lisa - thanks so much!