The Pain of a New Guitar
Posted at 12:24 AM
My new guitar arrived Monday so I’ve been a bit distracted … and depressed. Let me explain.
After I bought my son a Stratocaster back in September, I picked up his new guitar one evening and was stricken by the feel of the instrument. Smitten, really. That Strat just belonged in my hands. Suddenly I was compelled to play it myself. So I started sneaking around late at night “borrowing” my son’s amp along with his guitar. But after the first week of this he really got annoyed and yelled, “Just buy your own guitar, dad!”
So I did, getting an identical black Mexican Stratocaster with a rosewood fingerboard, plus the same little Fender practice amp. I had to get the same setup or my son would have wanted to “trade” for the better guitar.
Anyway, I started playing “my” guitar. Every day for an hour, sometimes more. I sucked but I was slowly improving. I even employed my son’s guitar teacher to school me as well. And it was working. I got so into the experience I forgot about blogging. And then I wanted a better guitar. Not just a budget Fender but an instrument worthy of my new passion.
Thus began the search for the perfect guitar. It took several months. I played many different Fenders, Gibsons, and other models at guitar stores all over the place. But it was during an episode of the flu in January that I stumbled across the Reverend Musical Instruments company on the web. And in a fit of over-the-counter drug-induced foolishness, I bought one of their Slingshot Custom guitars online without ever playing or even touching a single fret.
Unfortunately I would have to wait for delivery. But before my new guitar would arrive, the tendons between my left and wrist began to throb. And not in anticipation. I had given myself tendinitis from so much practicing. In fact, I had to essentially stop practicing several weeks ago. Just fretting a few bar chords is very painful after five or ten minutes.
It sucks. The pain sucks and not being able practice sucks. And now the Reverend arrived this week and I can’t even play it. Ugh. So I’m letting my son practice on it. It’s only fair, I guess.
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