Coming out to play

Funny how things just snowball sometimes. Top of the annual wish list was a circle of friends to make music with, and suddenly it's happening. I put out the word on the local internet forum that I wanted to have a guitar workshop. Some people started getting in touch and it eventually evolved into a jam at my house today, and got me invited to play dates at a beautiful, funky beach house every Thursday afternoon. And then I found out about another one on Fridays. So far we've had a good mix of beginners with one or two very patient and more advanced musicians. I get to sing, and if someone else joins in, I can harmonize. And today,  some icing on the already yummy cake: we had a mandolin player!

Last year I learned some songs with my friend Francisco but his repertoire was mostly out of my range of ability. He considered uncool the old AED and CFG-chord tunes that most of us novices cut our teeth on. Then he moved to Guadalajara, and the Capt and I went sailing. When we came home, the Capt started playing my guitar and that was that. But now I'm plunking away on a new one, sounding horrible but everyone assures me I'll improve if I practice enough. The calluses on my fingertips tell me I'm working hard.

One of the songs my friend Diana introduced me to is KD Lang's "Constant Craving," about the mysterious urge we all seem to be born with, that drives us to do great things, or make great mistakes.

"Maybe a great magnet pulls

All souls towards truth 

        Or maybe it is life itself  

        That feeds wisdom to its youth"

My playing may never be up to my expectations, I may always be dissatisfied with it, but as KD says, "...this is a human condition."

The bittersweet part is that everybody who's come out to play with me is leaving soon. Maybe we'll swap songs through the summer over the Internet and get back to it in October. Meanwhile I'm hoping to start learning more Spanish songs so I can still fit in somewhere, when the snowbirds have all flown north.