Jake’s been playing the drums for a long time. Around half his life — possibly more. A couple of weeks ago he picked up the guitar.
He’d owned one for a while — about a year or so. A friend of ours had rescued one from an untimely demise, and given it to Jake as a gift. It’s a somewhat battered nylon string acoustic, and Jake had showed almost no interest in it for the first 12 months of its tenure in our house.
But he made friends with Joe — a year 11 student at his school (Jake’s year 9) who had taken up the drums. Joe’s been playing guitar for over a year and is a fan of grunge rock.
And so Jake caught the bug.
The two of them have been hanging out, talking music, watching Nirvana videos, swapping rock and roll stories… and messing about on Joe’s guitar — as well as on the guitars they have at the school.
So he’s been noodling on the instrument, teaching himself and consulting books and websites. And in two weeks, he’s better than I was after two years. Another two weeks, he’ll probably be better than I ever managed to get.
Admittedly, I didn’t practice — but in my defence, I didn’t actually like playing the guitar all that much. I liked being ABLE to play the guitar, and I liked being in a band — but I always found the instrument itself to be a source of frustration. Practicing was a solitary affair, I was never as good as I wanted to be, and there were millions of people I’d far rather listen to playing it than me.
Of course, now that Jake’s playing, I’m picking it up again. Showing him things, and kind of learning with him as I go.
Joe and Jake spent the afternoon together yesterday ‘jamming’. Playing the guitar is a social thing and he’s ‘playing’ rather than struggling with the instrument. It’s really quite cool.
So they’ve formed a band. At least, they’ve announced that they’ve formed a band. A drummer who plays the guitar, and a guitarist who plays the drums.
Introducing… The Flannels.
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