Learning

Everyone learns music in their own way, i had been a Bass player first and just learned myself and my brother who played guitar taught me the notes on the first 2 strings of the Bass that were the same as the guitar, just an octave lower. from that i could figure some songs out and jammed with guys, i wouldn't have to play the full chord like the guitarists, i just had to hit one note. I took piano lessons for awhile when i was 14, Elton John had put out Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and my father had always played Piano. So i got inspired to learn Piano, Every Saturday i would go for lessons, the teacher first played some really cool songs that really got me excited and then gave the beginners Alfred Piano book, which started with 'On top of old smoky' and a whole bunch of nursery rhymes, i wanted to play 'Bennie and the jets' but i had to learn to read the notes. I lasted about 4 months and that was enough. In grade 11, i took a double block of guitar at Burnaby South high school. It was hard on the fingers trying to do those chords, especially F, B , Flat but i persisted. The next year i took another double block and got a little bit better but not much. The Teacher, Mr Hopkins would hand out photo copies of songs for us to go through. After graduating, i keep going with the songs he gave out, Jim Croce's , Time in a bottle, lots of CCR songs, The Beatles of course. I just never stopped, i bought music books and just kept at it. I still do, It's become an addiction. We all learn in different ways, i have relearned the guitar dozens of times in different styles and it still excites me.