2008 Woodie Awards
To my dismay
Shannen Garza
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Opinion
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To my dismay, no one sent me the memo when pretending to play the guitar automatically put you at rockstar status.
Had I known that simply holding a guitar in my hands would allow people to magnetically flock to me, I would have devised such a genius plan much earlier. Heck, holding a guitar isn't even a requirement, randomly carrying a guitar case or wearing a guitar pick necklace would definately work just as well.
The amazing phenomenon of everyone being a guitar player has been a ponderence of mine for some time. Since when did knowing one guitar chord make someone a full-blown musician?
When I look back on some of the famous musicians I admire, they lived and breathed music, so in sync with their instrument that their talent couldn't be matched. When I compare Jimi Hendrix to the boy in Guitar Center loudly strumming random chords that make me question it's qualification as music, I can't help but think that something isn't matching up.
I'm not going to lie, I was suckered into this undoubtedly amazing trend on my sixteenth birthday when I recieved my first guitar. It was a glorious day, the sun was shining, the birds were....yeah, basically, it was amazing.
I made a vow to teach myself every song in the world so that I could rock out and play songs on demand. "You want to hear some John Mayer? No problem. Let's jam." However, everytime I sat down to play, I realized that the music wasn't just going to automatically flow into my fingers, and decided to do something that required less effort. You know, like eat ice cream.
Here's the thing, when people ask me if I play guitar, I'm honest about it. I tell them I attempt to play, and make no guarantee of awe-inspiring musical genius. My guitar, which I named Rhapsody, currently sits in my dorm room still craving attention.
Despite my contribution to the constantly reoccuring trend of wannabe rockstars, I can't help but chuckle to myself when I hear some random guy say "Yeah, I'm in a band. We haven't made it big yet. Actually, we still play in Chuck's garage, but we're trying to get us a gig."
Had I known that simply holding a guitar in my hands would allow people to magnetically flock to me, I would have devised such a genius plan much earlier. Heck, holding a guitar isn't even a requirement, randomly carrying a guitar case or wearing a guitar pick necklace would definately work just as well.
The amazing phenomenon of everyone being a guitar player has been a ponderence of mine for some time. Since when did knowing one guitar chord make someone a full-blown musician?
When I look back on some of the famous musicians I admire, they lived and breathed music, so in sync with their instrument that their talent couldn't be matched. When I compare Jimi Hendrix to the boy in Guitar Center loudly strumming random chords that make me question it's qualification as music, I can't help but think that something isn't matching up.
I'm not going to lie, I was suckered into this undoubtedly amazing trend on my sixteenth birthday when I recieved my first guitar. It was a glorious day, the sun was shining, the birds were....yeah, basically, it was amazing.
I made a vow to teach myself every song in the world so that I could rock out and play songs on demand. "You want to hear some John Mayer? No problem. Let's jam." However, everytime I sat down to play, I realized that the music wasn't just going to automatically flow into my fingers, and decided to do something that required less effort. You know, like eat ice cream.
Here's the thing, when people ask me if I play guitar, I'm honest about it. I tell them I attempt to play, and make no guarantee of awe-inspiring musical genius. My guitar, which I named Rhapsody, currently sits in my dorm room still craving attention.
Despite my contribution to the constantly reoccuring trend of wannabe rockstars, I can't help but chuckle to myself when I hear some random guy say "Yeah, I'm in a band. We haven't made it big yet. Actually, we still play in Chuck's garage, but we're trying to get us a gig."