Me and My Guitar

Guitar has brought me a lot of good things. James Taylor wrote a good tune called Me and My Guitar. It's about getting down in the dumps and having your old bud there to pick you up. He hit the nail on the head. I heard Chet Atkins play it. You can kind of tell you are going into a long term relationship with the old box if when you first pick it up you can't put it down. Before I ever could play a chord I would sit there and play a string, then two together, then put my ear right on the back and see if that sounded different.

I gave lessons for a while. You could tell who didn't pick it up all week. There was one kid I taught named Dan. I really admired the kid. One day his mom called a little worried saying Dan wanted to go to major in guitar in Boston. He did try it, I never heard what happened. He was a good chord man. I don't read music, so all I did was get him started. That kind of passion is what gets you good.

I never got into collecting guitars. I can't believe it when somebody buys Eric Clapton's old guitar for tons of money or whatever. I mean, take EC's hands off of it and it's just a guitar. I'm pretty sentimental about my old Gibson SG though. My brother bought it for me back in the early 70s. Later he told me he traded some you know what for it. The thing got beaten up during the college days. Years later I finally bought a case for it. Now it's been through hundred of blues jobs in every kind of hoosier bar in town and it stays in tune and absolutely screams on lead.

There is so much more about music to tell you about. But the clock is ticking down and I have to go to work.