Carter plays guitar. He took some group lessons via the community education program thing last year, but got a little overwhelmed and quit going. But he kept at it, practicing, and exploring. His cousin, Jaycee, is taking guitar lessons, too, and has really helped Carter explore. Carter has learned how to read the guitar tabs, basics of chords, power chords, and bar chords. He’s learned some strumming patterns and a couple of picking patterns.
Mostly, he listens to the music he likes, goes and looks up the guitar tabs online, and tries to recreate the music. It’s a great learning process. It’s how I learned piano, guitar, choral conducting, crochet, knitting, and sourdough. I found some interest, looked up some basics, someone showed me some basics, I practices, and then picked up techniques from others along the way. Somewhere through that process, most of these endeavors included some formal training, too.
Carter started all this on my acoustic guitars. Last fall, he got really interested in electric guitar. I hate electric guitar. But he really wanted to get into it. He couldn’t recreate all his favorite music on acoustic. (OK, usually one can, and many bands perform acoustic versions of their hits, but that’s probably a little further down the learning curve, eh.) Jaycee ended up with a spare electric guitar that he gave Carter. Still gotta figure out how to show proper gratitude for that kindness. Carter got a simple $20 amp for Christmas to being exploration. He quickly hit the wall on what it was (or was not) capable of. Last month, as he continued to express interest in a better amp, I realized that for the last year, I’ve not had him in any lessons or sports teams or any paid extra-curricular activities. He’s been driving his own exploration and interests with a steady dedication, and I realized that I needed to both reward that and reinforce it.
So today we went shopping for an amp. With no real knowledge. We hit a couple of stores, and ended up buying an amp that satisfies us and that I think will serve him for several years. It’s a VOX VT30. It’s got a wide range of sounds, which was our first requirement, and sufficient volume output to be able to jam with friends and perhaps perform in a school talent show. We bought the amp from our local music store, Hyland Music, in Sandy, UT. The sales agent, Carmeron, was a great help, easy to talk to, and easy to get along with. Hyland Music is where Jaycee takes his guitar lessons, and where my niece takes music lessons, too. When given the choice today, Carter chose the amp over the guitar lessons. He’s planning to take guitar lessons in school again next fall.
He’s excited. He’s exploring the various sounds, satisfied to be able to recreate the sounds he wants. And he’s texting like mad on his cell phone, telling all his friends about it. That’s when you know you’ve hit the mark as a papa, right?
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