Time to start guitar lessons again...

 At almost 70, I'm going to get back on the music train. I'm going to start taking guitar lessons again!

I was taking lessons for a few years before my heart attack in 2016. Loved it! I would put in a 10 hour day at work (software developer) and then scoot off to a local music store to spend an hour with a great instructor. I have to check with him before I say who it was. I'm hoping he will be able to take me in again.

We split our time between playing classical spanish guitar music on my Yamaha C-40 and blues on my Gretsch G5120 Electromatic  guitars. That's a little practice Fender amp and a Vox amp in the corner.

I have a bazillion books and sheet music to work with. I'm one of those poor shmucks that can't help buying every new piece of music that I hear and trying to learn it. Then I promptly forget I have it instead of learning it and making it part of my practice. Going to try and fix that flaw this time.

What's different this time? I'm retired now. No work to deal with. I spent over 40 years twiddling bits in the software industry. It was great! I still play around with little s/w projects. BUT... it isn't all consuming like it used to be. I can put that aside and stoke the fires of creating and playing music I love.

My current piece to learn is 'Con te partio', which literally is 'I'll leave with you' but is known as 'Time to say Goodbye.' I first heard it sung by Andrea Bocelli on a TV special. It is a heart wrenching, soaring melody that makes me weep. My emotions are always on full display, you just have to deal with it ;-)

    

I found the music for guitar and I'm trying to learn it by myself until I can take lessons again. 

One of the things I've found is that pieces like this sound 'right' on my classical guitar, BUT I really enjoy finding ways to play them on my Gretsch! Being able to release huge tonal swings and effects through my Fender amp turns any piece into a flight of fantasy! Truly 'My guitar gently weeps...'.

I'll keep you up to date on my musical journey. Maybe I can post a movie of my playing with Jeff (hopefully my teacher) later in the year.

For now I'll end with a cartoon that nails my thoughts on life!

Be good to yourself and to others.

Never give up!

 It's true in every aspect of life that dogged determination will take you further than whining or wishing. Writing is no different.

Talent is great.

Education is wonderful.

But a stubborn will to do your best, every chance you get, is mandatory for a happy life. It's mandatory if you want your dreams to become reality.

The world isn't against you. No one is holding you back. It's up to you to live a little better everyday. It's up to you to attempt, to adapt, to stretch, to push and to enjoy the results of your hard work with celebration and joy.

Don't give up.

Is my flying car really here?

 I've been waiting for my flying car since I watched the first episode of  'The Jetsons' as a kid in '62.

I was 10 and just discovering Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Ham Radio magazines. These magazines threw gasoline on the embers of my imagination!

 

I can't prove it but I'll bet you a dollar to a donut that the Flying Car graced the covers of those rags more than anything else. At least that's the way I remember it.

 My Dad ran Service Stations in the 50's, 60s and 70s. So I grew up tinkering with cars and trucks of all kinds, foreign and domestic. I even had a junk car that Dad parked in the second garage for parts. I spent one summer taking it apart, piece by piece. It's probably still scattered all over the garage floor 50 years later. Things don't move very fast in Levelland, Texas. Trust me.

 

So when I saw the Sunday Morning episode about flying cars I was a bit disappointed. The pictures above were very close to the Jetson model dream-ships I've been waiting for. 

The flying car portrayed on TV was a bit more 'meh'. 

It's basically an oversized drone that buzzes like a giant bee. Range is '20 minutes of flying time'.

Where is my four seater convertible with jet-engine driven ducted-fan impellers, computer stabilizer and GPA self-driving navigation?

Sigh.

Well I'll just have to wait patiently another 50 years.

Wait... I'm 69. 

Hmmm.

Well, I hope YOU enjoy zipping around in the clouds, wind whipping through your hair.

More on flying cars later.