I Believe in the Magic of an Acoustic Guitar.

I believe in the magic of an acoustic guitar. Passion comes in many forms. Mine materialized when I was six years old and my dad wrote “The Booger Song” for me before church started. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be a musician.

I got my first guitar when I was seven years old, but with the attention span of a second-grader, my skills didn’t exceed two chords. After D7 and G, I gave up on learning until eighth grade. That Christmas I got a Gibson Talent, not exactly a Les Paul, but not a pawn shop hand-me-down either. I learned about two and a half songs when my friend showed me how to read tabulature. Another year and I started going online and looking up the music to songs I liked. Another year and I started writing songs of my own, auditioned for the school talent show, and made it. Another year and I accepted that there was only so much I could teach myself, broke down, and took lessons. A few months, and I was in a band that played at school basketball games. Although Jimmy Hendrix changed a lot of lives, his thin metal strings and screeching amplifiers just couldn’t express music the way an acoustic guitar could.

I pride myself in being an aesthetic. There’s just something about knowing that an old tree, six strings, and I can express any feelings I want without restrictions. An acoustic guitar is nature. It is sitting at a bonfire at the lake with my friends. It is a family get-together. It is the television when the electricity goes out in a big storm. It is any and every emotion. It is a love song. It is peace on earth. An acoustic guitar is music in the simplest form. It can express any feeling. It can relate to any experience. When I have a bad day, it plays slow music in minor keys. When I’m sitting on my back porch in the sunshine, it sings sixteenth notes of Corey Smith. It is malleable and portable. It is customizable and durable. (And in the case of others who might like the bonfire idea…it is also flammable.)

Music is just another expression of emotion and self, as are dancing, writing poetry, painting, making model cars, and knitting. It is just my expression of choice. Loving something enough to work hard for it, to be inspired by it, to feel accomplishment through it, is the most important part of what I believe. I believe in the magical beauty and innocence that come with an acoustic guitar, but most of all, I believe in passion.