Guitar

Typical Saturday Night

Matt: Yeah, I think I’ll get up and go to 7 o’clock mass tomorrow morning.

Tyler: Yeah good idea

Sunday Morning – Alarm going off at 6:20

Matt turns off alarm, goes to the bathroom, and resets alarm for an hour later, pledging to go next week…Tyler laughs

 

Last Night

 

Matt: Luis (choir director) Piensa que estoy listo, Me gustaria tocar la guitarra a la misa a las siete manana por la mana, usted me dijo que sea mejor para aprender tocando durante la misa? (Do you think I’m ready, I would like to play guitar tomorrow morning, you said the best way to learn is to play during mass?)

Luis: Si, claro

Today – Alarm going off at 6:20

Matt goes to mass after a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon and a glass of apple juice.

I arrived at the church about fifteen minutes before mass, I knew I was in over my head, but I was somewhat at peace with my position. Having only owned a guitar for about 2 months, and with the past Saturday spent practicing playing the keyboard (And So It Goes, anybody?) no one had any expectations other than patience. So as I grabbed the songbook for sick visits after mass, Tyler’s tuner, and my hat (it was chilly this morning) I took a peaceful 6:45 stroll three dusty blocks arriba to the church. I was surprised to see only tenish people and as I arrived to the front of the church I began to tune the guitar. Morning greeting to Luis brought information of a missing cable, nothing I was occupied with as I wanted to tune-up and throw a few chord combinations together to loosen up my fingers. At 6:53, I inquired further into what was missing as my guitar was prepped, and needed something to distract my upcoming performance. Luis told me there was a cable in Tyler’s back, I offered to go home and get it, and to bring the forgotten music sheets I had made for the mass the previous Wednesday at the Basilica for the Virgen of Suyapa. I took Luis’ bike and brought the cable and folder in hand back to the church. Well the chian fell off, and the papers started to fall…as I started trotting to church I wondered if they’d start mass w/out me. I literally dragged the bike up the seven steps and noticed people were still preparing for the mass. Phew.

 

Phew, except it was almost show time. However, relief, both Luis and Don Raphael were plugging into electrical devices meaning their sound would be amplified while mine would be the sweet sound of beginner.

 

Padre, being quite ill, strolled in at about 7:10 after seating assignments had been arranged (so I could see Luis’ fingers), songs were handed out, and tuning sessions were matched. And then it came…Virgen de Suyapa !Oh Reina de Honduras!....E, B7, E B7, E, A….BAR CHORDS!!!

I tell you, I knew some of the words to the song but they could have been singing in Chinese, and sound completed awful, or equally fluent and I wouldn’t have noticed. I have not concentrated, and put so much focus into something in quite a while, and I LOVED IT! No way could I follow Luis’ magic hand, put mine where his was going, play the chord, and SING how ridiculous. I was looking for patterns, tells, hints of what was next. No way could I play everything he was playing, but I sure tried.

Random Insert: The opening song has 16^th notes in it, meaning when I do have the words in front of me, there is such a cluster of words in such a short time frame, I can not even sing it anyhow.

Well, until the bar chords. Then it was time sit back, relax, prepare myself for the next E (which always came after the string of B minors, F and other chords further down the neck I didn’t even recognize). But when he was done, I was there ready for the E, B7, E, B7, E, A combo. It was cool.

And that was the first song. I believe the next song was the Gloria, which I really like. And it was some what easy to play, a few chords, constant strumming, hey I can do this, and then BOOM the song explodes and Luis is off, and me well, I still like singing the song. Playing it at one point was almost a joke, but I did my best to recognize patterns and started to realize how Eminors tended to fade in to A7.

The mass continued with times of sitting while the rest of the congregation was standing or kneeling. It was if my existence in mass had taken a complete other focus. No longer was I there to reflect, or strengthen my faith. My was consumed by the guitar, and I liked it. Alleluya, Offeratory, Hosanna, Paz, Comunion, Closing Hymns all came and went with amazement at what I could not do.

And I think it is in that where my happiness lies. The challenge presented in front of me. But not just a challenge, but one that is attainable, and through the achieved goal an avenue opens for me to share more with others AND THAT is why I love learning the guitar. Typical, not for this guy.