These days I love attracting guitars and playing guitars. I'm fortunate enough to know musicians as well as guitar teachers. Weekly lessons with Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon are a blast. Talking music with guitarist Pat O'Bryan is always enlightening. And meeting luthiers (guitar makers) is also educational and inspiring. (Pic's of Pat and me.*)
When I was a kid I asked my parents for a guitar for Christmas. I was probably under ten years old. They were struggling, scarcity minded, hard working folks who weren't convinced I'd actually practice or stick with it. So they gave me a Roy Rogers special cowboy guitar, made out of cardboard.
It took me almost fifty years to get over it.
But these days I love attracting guitars and playing guitars. I'm fortunate enough to know musicians as well as guitar teachers. Weekly lessons with Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon are a blast. Talking music with guitarist Pat O'Bryan is always enlightening. And meeting luthiers (guitar makers) is also educational and inspiring.
Recently I met Mark Erlewine. This luthier made guitars for every rock star I've ever admired, including Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, Johnny Winter, Don Felder, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffet, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Squier, Bruce Springsteen -- and the list goes on (!).
Turns out Mark has a little shop in Austin, Texas, which isn't far from my home. I went to see him one day to check out a Mark Erlewine invention actor Michael J. Fox used in the famed movie Back to the Future: a travel-sized electric guitar called a Chiquita.
Side note: I love travel guitars. I have several, including a pride and joy called a TommyHawk, which was made for me in 1996 by the late Tom Barth. Only 300 were ever made. One went into the Smithsonian in 1997. I want another, if you come across one.
I went to Mark's shop. He's a soft spoken, gentle, humble man. He didn't explain the gold record on the wall. He didn't brag about all the photos on his walls of famous rock stars playing his guitars. Instead, I asked to see the Chiquita and he showed it to me. I loved it and bought it.
But I didn't stop there.
Now that I'm attracting new guitars, I'm always on the look out for the guitar with magic powers. The one that plays itself. The one that makes me sound better than what I am. I started to believe Mark could be the inventor of the Harry Potter guitar - the one that turns me into a shredding wizard with the guitar as my magic wand.
So I looked around Mark's shop. He had a couple display cases. In one hung a guitar that seemed alive. Its soul was calling me. The flame top seemed to whisper my nick-name, Mr. Fire.
I asked to see that guitar.
Mark made it in the 1980s, the body out of one block of wood and the neck out of Brazilian rosewood. It has a whammy bar on the front and a sustain plate on the back of the neck. I played it and loved it.
I now own that guitar, too.
What are the lessons here?
First, give your kids what they want. Had I started playing the guitar when I was seven, I'd be far better at playing today at almost fifty-seven. But my father wanted me to play the accordion. He bought me one of those. He paid for lessons for me, too. But I wanted to play the guitar.
Two, go for what you want. Too many people settle. They settle for what they think is possible rather than stretching and persisting. If you really want to be something or do something, don't give up or settle for less. Hold to the dream. I'm taking guitar lessons today to bring to life my dream of playing from earlier days. I'm going for what I want. Childhood dreams do come true.
Three, have fun. I'm delighted to be at a place in my life where I can take time off to look at cars or guitars. I still do my work, of course. I'm still more productive and prolific than the average 'Joe". I still practice the seven steps in Attract Money Now. I still donate to worthy causes. But I also take care of me.
How about you?
Who are you taking care of these days?
What dreams remain alive in you - waiting for you to says YES to them?
What did you want to have
What are you waiting for?
You can at least begin right now.
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