In the soul of every musician whether you play guitar, drums, violin, flute, cello, bassoon, piano, organ, or a washboard and big round tub, you have a desire. A desire to play an instrument that, barring unforeseen circumstances, you will derive much pleasure from for the rest of your life.

Some may say they have a desire to express themselves and can only accomplish this by playing an instrument. I never bought into the "expressing yourself" idea, probably because I can express myself without a guitar but if that's the way you feel, then by all means run with it. I'm not saying it isn't true, it's just that I never felt that way personally. I had a desire to learn guitar because it looked fun to play, I enjoyed the sounds you could pull out of the instrument, and most of them look just plain cool. You can't often sit around a campfire and whip out an 88 key piano and start noodling around with songs that everybody knows and wants to sing along with. Guess what? You can do that with a guitar! Popular music like rock and roll owes its life to guitar and drums. You can play a few riffs from such classics like Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple or Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix and people will instantly recognize them. Try those songs on any other instrument and you will receive blank stares.

That's why I chose the guitar.

Many male rock stars have said they picked up the instrument of their choice to get girls. They may be speaking the truth or they may feel differently in private and just trying to evoke an image. We, as Joe Public, will probably never know the truth. It doesn't really matter. No matter why you chose to play the guitar, you have embarked on a journey that will take you from the easiest songs ever written to complex pieces that you may never master. Learning the guitar is truly a case of, "how far you go is up to you".

There are many, many musicians that I could name in this book, and I have named a few but I urge you to check out some of them if you aren't aware of their ability. Here comes another piece of advice; don't ever limit yourself on what you listen to or play. Don't get so tunnel-visioned that you never branch out into other areas of music or styles of playing. You will only be hurting yourself.

So why did you pick up the instrument? Have you given that any thought? Why you chose the guitar can impact what you will learn, how you will learn it, and the extent you will go to learn it. Was it your choice? Did you even have a choice? I am prone to being completely against any man, woman, or child that is forced or coerced into learning a musical instrument. I do not see any benefit to prodding a child or person into learning music (in this case, guitar). I would love to see my daughter come to me one day and say that she wants to learn the guitar. What proud, guitar playing, father or mother would not want that? However, if she never acquires the desire to learn the guitar, then so be it. I do hope she wants to learn some kind of instrument though.

Learning to play any instrument is a matter of putting your mind to it and taking that first step. Again, the sky's the limit! If you work real hard and dedicate yourself to accomplishing the task, the rewards will be many. Sound like a father? Well, I am a father. Get over it. Which brings me to a story.

A friend whom I went to school with many years ago decided to learn the guitar at about the same time his younger brother answered the call. After not seeing my friend for about a year, I caught up with him at a party and asked him how it was going. He responded that he had given up because his brother was much better than he was. What? I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I told him he'd better give up driving, his chosen profession, and speaking because I'm sure there was someone out there who could do it better than he. I think he actually got bored after he discovered that it wasn't really what he wanted to do. To this day, his response makes my jaw drop when I think about it.

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