Learning the Blues

The New Axe

I bought a guitar! I’ve been playing since my freshman year in college. I’d classify myself as a intermediate player – can play songs you’d recognize minus the face-melting solos. But I finally bought myself a pretty nice guitar, and I’ll tell you what – it sounds awesome! So, I’ve decided that I need to up my skills. I’ve picked up a blues instructional book. I’ll actually learn scales and the basic of blues. The goal is to get away from just playing songs from memory and know enough about the music to be creative.

Old Man Fishing

A ripple spreads across glass like change through monotony, sending shock-waves out disturbing the peaceful stillness, the almost staleness of the spring-time waters. His boat, dented and rusty, like the man it carried, glided toward the long-time fishing spot.

It was early. The birds sang odes of happiness, songs of contentment. The season was changing, buds were sprouting, tiny blades of grass were poking their way through the dead stalks, the empty shells of once green grass that the harsh winter had long since claimed. The season was changing, changing as she always had.

Reaching his favorite spot, he pulled the oars in and let the boat come to a stand still. The ripples subsided and the calm which had ecapsulated the lagoon had returned.

The man grabbed his hat and put it on to shield his eyes from the sun, which was begining to peak its face above the treeline. His hat was dirty, trusted and worn. Crafted out of leather, the hat had conformed itself and created a comfortable fit, so comfortable that the man felt whole when wearing it.

With a flick of the wrist and the singing of the reel, the lure had been paced. He sat back. The pool settled once again.

{Selected Text, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography} Building a Lighthouse

On the recommendation of my good friend I starting reading The Complete Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I’ve only have made it through the beginning several pages, but I can tell that this is a work worth owning. This is the opening paragraph of Chapter One. I love the wit and the utility!

“We safely arriv’d in England on the 17th of July 1757 after having been chas’d several times on our passage by privateers. But we outsail’d everything, and in thirty days had good soundings. We met with no accident except the night before our arrival, when we narrowly escap’d running ashore on the rocks of Silly, owing to our not having discover’d the lights ashore till it was almost too late to avoid them. The bell ringing for church, we went thither immediately, and with hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks to God for the mercies we had received: were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion have vowed to build a chapel to some saint; but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should have been to build a lighthouse.” – The Complete Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin.