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  • Steve Krenz
    Steve Krenz

    Why Do You Play?

    Copy of Copy of WHY DO YOU PLAY_.jpg

    Yes, I know that we play guitar for our own edification – of course. 

    But, each of us have other reasons that we want to learn and play guitar - often profoundly personal and individual reasons why we want to play guitar. 

    Often times, some of our wonderful guitar family will email me and let me know why they want to play.

    Here are some of the amazing reasons I've heard...

    • To Play for My Kids or Grandkids
    • To Pass on Music to My Family and Kids.
    • To Play a Song for My Daughter's Wedding.
    • After a Dad's Death, to Learn My Dad's Favorite Song and Play on His Guitar.
    • To Play at My Local Church
    • To Play for a Local Nursing Home or VA

    I’ve realized that there are a multitude of profoundly personal reasons why people want to learn to play guitar. 

    Reasons as simple as “playing makes me feel better” to the profound “I want to play a song for my daughter’s wedding”.

    No matter what YOUR reason is – dive into learning whole-heartedly.

    Take a minute to think about WHY you want to learn – what the goal and motivation is in your heart.

    Once you figure your reason out, then try to form it into one sentence - your personal guitar learning mission statement.

    Then, write it out and tape it on your music stand or on the wall in your practice area.

    A simple glance will be a little motivational reminder to keep pressing on when the learning gets tough.

    Every little bit of motivation and focus will help you get where you want to go.

    If you would like, share why you play in the comments below.

    - Steve

    Edited by Steve Krenz

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    I am learning guitar because music is magic and I want to know it and feel it and share it with those I love.

    Eighteen months ago I found I had late stage colon cancer. That has a way of quickly making you really understand what you find important in life. For me, I found music was foundational. My number one priority other than to treat my cancer was to listen to my music and to rip as much as I could to FLAC so I could hear it more.

    Something I found during convalescence from surgeries is it’s really important to do something new. To keep my adventure going. Last time, I choose to start to learn guitar and to bake. And then COVID came along to keep me home. I wanted to memorize and play my favorite songs, maybe even sing. We had a little 3/4 classical Hondo and started with that. I stumbled onto L&M and just loved the PDF lesson book. I wasn’t new to playing music — had played saxophone, piano, and violin at various stages in life. I had tried guitar first but it’s a hard go for a six year old. I found I really liked it this time around 50 years later. Two months in I got a Takamine GD93CE and I’m absolutely addicted. Just starting barre chords — again. When I switched to the huge dreadnaught from that little nylon thing, I basically had to relearn everything again.

    I’m doing well and have beat the cancer, at least for now. I’m looking forward to extended RV trips and playing along the way. Really getting to know my favorite music on a new level.
     

     

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    @Eracer_Team-DougH I did! The deluxe version with the workbook videos. The workbook PDF is superb and I like Steve's intro to each of those sessions. I also like the extra material Gibson put on the DVDs, too. And its fun to use the play along CDs. I use them on my home stereo but I also ripped them so I can play from a portable speaker with my phone.  The whole program -- the free lesson and workbook PDFs, the video course, the Guitar Gathering community, and the live sessions -- is so good and so effective.

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    I hope you are doing well, and continue on with a long and enjoyable life.

    Edited by Donroger
    I commented on someone else's post. Not what I wanted to do.
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